Bloggers Are Dying: Join Our Blog Rally (Updated - See Below)

I have never been a person who would stoop to self-censoring and I never will be. I'd rather not write at all if I have to stop being frank and honest in my words. -Omid-Reza Mir-Sayafi

Today Roxana Saberi spends her birthday on a hunger strike in Tehran's Evin Prison, where she has been incarcerated for espionage. According to NPR, "The Iranian Political Prisoners Association lists hundreds of people whose names you would be even less likely to recognize: students, bloggers, dissidents, and others who, in a society that lacks a free press, dare to practice free expression."

Hearing reports like these made me want to do a ribbon campaign. Blue for blogging.  So I've emailed a group of blog friends to ask them to join me, and if you're reading this and have a blog, website, or facebook page, I'd like to ask you to join me as well.

It's been thought of and done before, of course, as I found out soon enough when I did a quick search for blue ribbon campaigns. So I went ahead and borrowed a blue ribbon and am "wearing" it on my blog this week in gratitude for the very fact that I can do so, openly, without fear of suppression, persecution, or death.

Please consider placing a blue ribbon on your blog / website / facebook, myspace, or twitter page this week in honor of the journalists, bloggers, students, and writers who are imprisoned in Evin Prison, nicknamed "Evin University," and other prisons around the world, for speaking and writing down their thoughts.

Omid, incidentally, means hope in Farsi. Omid-Reza Mir-Sayafi is dead. Hope has to live on.

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If you would like to join my fellow bloggers and me in this blog rally, please consider posting one of the following (modified as you wish) or an adaptation of the above post on your blog or website with a blue ribbon.

Version 1:

A group of bloggers is holding a blog rally in support of Roxana Saberi (who is spending her birthday on a hunger strike in Tehran's Evin Prison) and of others who have dared to express their thoughts freely only to be imprisoned, abused, or killed.  

Please consider placing a blue ribbon this week on your blog, website, and facebook / myspace / twitter page, and invite others to do the same,  in honor of the journalists, bloggers, students, and writers who are imprisoned in Evin Prison (nicknamed "Evin University") and other prisons around the world for speaking and writing down their thoughts. 

Version 2:

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference, and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers."

Journalist Roxana Saberi has been incarcerated in Tehran's Evin Prison, where she is spending her birthday on a hunger strike. Around the world, people continue to face similar violations of their rights to freedom of expression, free speech, and a free press. Let's show the international community that we won't be silenced by intimidation and tyranny  - that we won't stop believing in and fighting for these rights.

Freedom of the press is not a luxury.  It lies at the heart of making this world healthier and more just. People without a voice and without a clear line of sight into the things that would threaten or corrupt their societies cannot hope for equitable growth and meaningful change.

A group of bloggers is holding a blog rally in support of journalists, bloggers, students, and writers who have dared to express their thoughts freely only to be imprisoned, abused, or killed.  

Please consider "wearing" a blue ribbon online this week on your blogs, websites, and facebook / myspace / twitter pages, and invite others to do the same.  Get the discussion going, and keep it going!

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Free Press Map of the World from Reporters Without Borders:

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Suggestions from Amnesty International:

RECOMMENDED ACTION: PLEASE SEND APPEALS TO ARRIVE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE, IN PERSIAN, ARABIC, ENGLISH, FRENCH OR YOUR OWN LANGUAGE:

- calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Roxana Saberi as, on the basis of the available evidence, she is a prisoner of conscience;

- calling for her “confessions” to be disregarded as Roxana Saberi may have been deceived into making incriminating “confessions” while held in pre-trial detention.

APPEALS TO:

Head of the Judiciary

Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi

c/o Director, Judiciary Public Relations and Information Office

Ardeshir Sadiq

Judiciary Public Relations and Information Office

No. 57, Pasteur St., corner of Khosh Zaban Avenue

Tehran, Iran

Email: info@dadiran.ir (In the subject line write: FAO Ayatollah Shahroudi)

Salutation: Your Excellency

Leader of the Islamic Republic

Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei

The Office of the Supreme Leader

Islamic Republic Street – End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street

Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Email: info_leader@leader.ir

via website: http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter (English)

http://www.leader.ir/langs/fa/index.php?p=letter (Persian)

Salutation: Your Excellency

COPIES TO:

President

His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

The Presidency

Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection

Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Fax: + 98 21 6 649 5880

Email: via website: http://www.president.ir/email/

Director, Human Rights Headquarters of Iran

Mohammad Javad Larijani

Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh / Office of the Head of the Judiciary

Pasteur St, Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhuri

Tehran 1316814737, Iran

Fax: +98 21 3390 4986 (please keep trying)

Email: info@dadgostary-tehran.ir(In the subject line write: FAO Javad Larijani)

Salutation: Dear Mr Larijani

and to diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country.

You can also write to:

His Excellency Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee, 

Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran
622 Third Ave.
New York, NY 1007

e-mail: iran@un.int 

To read samples of Roxana's reporting, click here.

To contact the White House, use this link/URL: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/