An Iranian student, writing under a pseudonym in the Huffington Post,
pays tribute to the writing of blogger Omidreza Mirsayafi, who
died last week in Iran's notorious Evin Prison. Here is Mirsayafi:
I feel like a stranger in my own house...Is it really the ancient Persia I am living in? Is it the land of Cyrus the Great?... It must be a nightmare I am having. This is not Persia. This is the Islamic Republic.
I have never been a person who would stoop to self-censoring and will never be.
And then these horribly prescient words, written by Mirsayafi in July 2006 about the death of a political prisoner:
Whether he died a natural death or was killed under torture, does not matter. He is no longer among us...Dear Akbar! I wish you a peaceful journey...trust me, you won't be missing many things in here...We are sorry that all we did for you were just writing letters, chanting slogans, or shedding a few tears...Forgive me!
Sooner or later, we have to leave our keys and check out. But the question is: Go where?...
-- Luke Allnutt