CyberDissidents.org is delighted to announce that Iranian activist Mojtaba Saminejad, AKA Madyar, has joined our Blogger Board.

Mojtaba Saminejad studied journalism at the Islamic Azad University of Tehran. He is currently the editor of Ferowsi magazine and the president of Shahr-e Khorshid publications.

Saminejad was first arrested on November 1, 2004 for writing about the arrest of three other bloggers. Officially, he was charged with insulting the Supreme Leader of Iran, for being a threat to Iran’s national security and for, “insulting the prophets,” (which is punishable by death). He was found not guilty on the last count, but he was still detained for three months and then released temporarily.

After his release, he began blogging about his experiences in jail and was arrested again in February of 2005. Subsequently, he was sentenced to two years and ten months in a general prison. He was held in solitary confinement for almost three months and beaten and tortured while held in jail. He was released early from prison on September 13, 2006. Several petitions were circulated while he was in prison, calling on Iran to release the blogger from jail. His blog address is: www.madyariran.net