Watchdog

Media freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called for an independent inquiry into the death of blogger Omidreza Mirsayafi in prison in Iran.

Mirsayafi died on March 18 at Iran's Evin prison, where he was jailed for allegedly insulting Iran's religious leaders and agitating against the government. Prison authorities called his death a suicide, but Mirsayafi's relatives doubted that assessment and said the circumstances were very suspicious.

In a press release, RSF states that Mirsayafi was buried quickly and without an autopsy, and that there are irregularities in the prison documents detailing the time of his transfer to Loghman Hakim hospital and the time of his death.

The group said there is reason to suspect that Mirsayafi was murdered, and demanded the creation of an independent commission of enquiry. "We believe the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression and the special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings should go as quickly as possible to Iran to investigate this case,” RSF writes.

Reporters Without Borders has published (in French) the last letter Mirsayafi sent to the organization before his detention.

Tajikistan has introduced a new religion law which the United States has criticized as highly restrictive.

The law empowers the government to impose stricter control of religious groups in the former Soviet republic, which tolerates only the state-approved version of Islam.

The law was signed by President Emomali Rahmon and will come into force after its official publication.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said the law would only "legalize harsh policies already adopted by the Tajik government against its majority Muslim population."

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