A blogger’s death is a reminder of the political repression going on in Iran today
Rights lawyer Nasreen Stoudeh with Sattar Beheshti’s mother at a memorial event for the murdered blogger.
Iranian blogger Sattar Beheshti died in prison a year ago, killed by torture.
Human rights activists, friends and family members gathered to remember him in Robat Karim, Tehran Province.
Beheshti was arrested at the end of October 2012 and was pronounced dead 10 days later. At the time, 41 political prisoners bravely published [fa] a statement saying they witnessed signs of torture on Sattar's body.
Iranian blogger Arsalan Rahimi celebrates that Nasreen Stoudeh, a lawyer who defended several political prisoners and was jailed herself, and Mohammad Nourizad, a political activist and former journalist in conservative Keyhan, both made an appearance at the memorial event.
The blogger writes [fa], “What activists in exile do and say, cannot have the same impact as the presence of these two people…. it does not matter what they believe, or whether they meet with Khatami [former reformist president]. What is important is they are fighting against oppression… Long live them and all who struggle inside country.”
Another blogger, Bala-vision, says [fa] that according to several judicial sources Sattar Beheshti was tortured. In recent days, several other netizens were arrested too.
Another blogger, “Exile Activist” shared photos from the anniversary event and reminds us that Beheshti was a blogger who spoke out for the working class.
Oppressed Mother
During a speech at the event, Mohammad Nourizad comforted Sattar Beheshti's mother, and chastised Iran's leaders, called them “the real face of an oppressor.”
Speaking to Beheshti's mother he said, “The revolution was carried out to protect people like you, but all 290 members of the Iranian parliament saw the blood of your son and deny it.”
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Remembering Sattar in Stockholm
Political activists lit candles in Stockholm, Sweden. The protesters remembered several other political prisoners, too.
Several Iranian bloggers are still in jail and recently Amnesty International warned that jailed blogger Mohammad Reza Pourshajari was being denied adequate medical care.
About four years ago, another blogger, Omid Reza Mirsayafi died in prison under suspicious circumstances.
Read more at Global Voices Online, where this article by Farid was originally published.
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