Mojtaba Saminejad

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Mojtaba Saminejad at university in handcuffs

Mojtaba Saminejad (Persian: مجتبی سمیع نژاد, born 30 September 1980 in Tehran) is an Iranian blogger and writer. He is currently studying journalism in Islamic Azad University of Tehran (Central Unit).

Also, he is the president of Shahr-e Khorshid publications (Persian: انتشارات شهر خورشید) and editor of Ferdowsi magazine.

He was initially arrested in November 2004. He was released on bail on January 27, 2005 but re-arrested on February 12, 2005 because the bail condition was doubled and he could not pay it.

According to his supporters, the reason for Saminejad's arrest was the publication on his blog of the arrests of three other bloggers.

According to the official charges, he was suspected of having insulted the head of state of Iran (the Supreme Leader), of "endangering national security" and of having "insulted the prophets."

He was found guilty on the charge of having insulted the Supreme Leader and sentenced to two years and ten months' imprisonment. On June 28, 2005, he was found not guilty of the charge of "insulting the prophets" (punishable by the death penalty under Article 512 of the Iranian Islamic penal code).

During his arrest, Saminejad has allegedly been held in solitary confinement for 88 days and subjected to beatings and torture. After 21 months, on September 13, 2006 he was released from prison.