The Observer | International | In brief: "Hunger striker remains in Iran jail"

Iran dissident 'cannot see wife' - Persian Journal Latest Iran news & Iranian Newspaper

The Epoch Times | Iran Judiciary Arrests Leading Human Rights Lawyer

L'état de santé du journaliste et écrivain réformateur iranien Akbar Ganji nécessite une hospitalisation

Reporters sans fronti�res - Iran: "Journalist Akbar Ganji may die after 50-day hunger-strike"

The Daily Star - Politics - Hunger-striking Iranian journalist near his death

Ganji Is Not Alone
By Shirin Ebadi
Jul 29, 2005, 04:17
Akbar Ganji’s perilous condition is just one distressing example of the dire state of Iran’s political and ideological prisoners recently highlighted in the media. Defending Ganji and publicizing his protests is the responsibility of every human rights activist and thse who care to raise the dignity of human life in Iran.

As Akbar Ganji’s lawyer and someone who, because of my work on this imprisoned journalist’s behalf, has been subject to myriad accusations and threats, I would like to address all human rights activists with a cautionary note. Let us not forget all other political and ideological prisoners who aren’t as well-known as Mr. Ganji. Those who have been forgotten in various prisons including Evin, Rejaee Shahr and other near and far flung provincial prisons and are doing hard time. Prisons filled with such human strife and suffering have hardly been reported in Tehran Judiciary’s recent report.

In some of these prisons, political inmates endure the torture of solitary confinement while in other facilities they actually request such confinement to escape their murderous and criminally hardened cellmates. There are many detainees who have suffered long term mistreatment and are denied access to a lawyer and for whom only hunger strikes offer a slight chance of garnering a minimum of their human rights.

The harshness of treatment they receive too bears no proportion to their political or ideological acts. Recall Mojtaba Saminejad whose only crime was to publish a personal weblog with very limited readership. He was regarded as a hardened outlaw and his hands and feet shamelessly shackled when taken to and from courtrooms.

We must work together for the freedom of all political and ideological prisoners. To ensure that their human rights receive a minimum level of protection, it is essential that we do not allow them to fade away from memory, a fate that a majority of them have already suffered.

_____________________________________________________________
Shirin Ebadi is an attorney, human rights activist and winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for championing human rights, especially the rights of women and children. She was the first female judge in Iran. She is an outspoken reformer and a regular contributor to Rooz.

http://roozonline.com/11english/008937.shtml


AxisofLogic/ Civil Rights/Human Rights

Reporters sans frontires - Iran: "Journalist Akbar Ganji may die after 50-day hunger-strike"

Iran Focus-News - Special Wire - Iran's judiciary refuses to pardon jailed journalist

RADIO FREE EUROPE/ RADIO LIBERTY:Hunger-Striking Iranian Dissident Reportedly Near Death

Iran's Students Find Inspiration in Ganji's Protest - July 28, 2005 - The New York Sun - NY Newspaper

IFEX ::Denial of justice continues for hunger-striking journalist Akbar Ganji

ReleaseGanji.com Hosted News and Activities: "The following statement was expressed by Mr. Akbar Ganji on the Evening of July 24, 2005 in Milad hospital (Source: Iran Emrooz):
Taking into consideration the project to kill me staged by the 'Eminence of all Gray Eminences', Saeed Mortazavi, the media arm of the chain murders [of the dissidents], parallel unofficial intelligence organizations [within the power structure in Iran] and my imprisonment in quarantine on the twelfth floor of Milad hospital and the fact that I am being held under worse conditions than those I had to bear in Evin prison, I absolutely refuse to undergo any operations and since the afternoon of Saturday July 23, 2005 I have disconnected all the feeding tubes necessary for the operation.
The unbearable illegal condition I am held in includes: depriving me of visiting my lawyers- Ms. Shirin Ebadi and Dr. Molaee-, of using the telephone, of read newspapers, of visiting my friends, limiting the visits of my family members in a discriminatory fashion (All other patients in the hospital are allowed to have visits with anyone they like every day of the week), and pressuring me to undergo operation without the knowledge of my family from the prosecutor�s office.
While my weight has been reduced from 77kg to 52kg in 45 days of hunger strike, I will under no circumstances give my consent to be operated on and I have disconnected all the feeding tubes needed for the operation since Saturday afternoon July 23, 2005 and consume only water, tea and sugar, and I have told the security team very clearly to return me to prison. I will never succumb to the projects devised by the 'Eminence of all Gray Eminences' and I insist explicitly that Mr. Shahroudi must take this case out of the hands of Saeed Mortazavi.
Saeed Mortazavi told me on the very night I was transported to the hospital: 'I "

EU calls for permanent release of Akbar Ganji - Irna

Havel Joins Bush, Sharansky in Plea for Ganji's Life - July 25, 2005 - The New York Sun - NY Newspaper

Reporters sans frontires - Iran: "Denial of justice continues for journalist on hunger strike"

gooya news :: english : Ganji's Letter to Ayatholah Montazeri, webgardian

Aljazeera.Net - Iranian lawyer fears for hunger striker

Iran: Human Rights activists protest to government heads after allegations made against defense lawyer Shirin Ebadi

KHAMENEH�I MUST GO, SAYS AKBAR GANI (URGENT) (Iran Press Service)

Iran's Ebadi says jailed journalist in poor health (New Kerala, India's Top News Channel)

URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY



Iran 001/0004/OBS 030.7

New information

Arbitrary detention/ Hospitalisation

Iran

July 21, 2005





The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Iran.



New information:



The Observatory has received new information by the Iranian League for the Defence of Human Rights (Ligue pour la défense des droits de l’Homme en Iran - LDDHI) about the hospitalisation of Mr. Akbar Ganji, a prominent journalist and human rights defender who has been imprisoned for more than five years in Tehran’s Evin prison.



According to the information received, Mr. Akbar Ganji, whose health had become alarming after more than one month of hunger strike and who has reportedly lost 50 pounds as a consequence (See background information below), was hospitalised in Tehran’s Milad Hospital on July 17, 2005. He has been since then under perfusion, being fed and medicated intravenously. His lawyers were denied to visit him, and his wife was authorised to visit him only once. According to his doctor, he has been hospitalised in order to have surgery on the meniscus of his two knees, and maybe his spinal column, when his health allows it.



The Observatory, which had expressed its concern regarding Mr. Ganji’s health and life, welcomes the hospitalisation of Mr. Ganji. However, it urges the Iranian authorities to grant Mr. Ganji an unconditional and definitive release, his detention aiming only at sanctioning his freedom of _expression and being as such arbitrary.





Background information:



Mr. Akbar Ganji, a journalist of the daily newspaper Sobh-e-Emrooz, was arrested on April 22, 2000 for having written several articles suggesting the involvement of the Iranian regime, including former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and former Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian, in the assassination of dissident opponents and intellectuals in late 1998. Mr. Ganji was also arrested because he took part in a conference in Berlin on the Iranian legislative elections and democratic reforms in April 1998. In January 2001, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison but the appeal court reduced the sentence to six months in May 2001. However, in July 2001, the Supreme Court quashed the May sentence on technical grounds and imposed a six-year jail sentence on the charge of “threatening national security and propaganda against the institutions of the Islamic State” (See Observatory Annual Report 2004).



On May 19, 2005, Mr. Akbar Ganji began an “unlimited hunger strike” to protest against his imprisonment, which he called off on May 24, 2005, after negotiations with three prison officials who promised to give way to his demands the following week. But the following day, an assistant of the Tehran prosecutor accused him of lying and warned “the Ganji family not to continue with these lies”. The journalist remained in detention and told his family that he had decided to renew his fast “and this time to the end”.


Mr. Akbar Ganji suffers from asthma and serious back problems, for which doctors recommended that he be immediately hospitalised. However, in detention, Mr. Ganji did not have access to adequate treatment. On May 28, 2005, Evin prison officials proposed to Mr. Akbar Ganji that he should be examined by two doctors chosen by his family to confirm his poor state of health and, on that basis, they would grant him permission to leave the prison. Mr. Ganji would be hospitalised for a week. On May 30, 2005, the Iranian authorities decided to release on a temporary basis Mr. Ganji, so that he may receive medical treatment.



On June 14, 2005, his house was searched on order of Mr. Mortazavi, Prosecutor of Tehran, in order to arrest him. On the following day, on June 15, 2005, Mr. Akbar Ganji presented himself to jail. On June 16, 2005, he started a hunger strike and he is currently held in solitary confinement in spite of the specific recommendation made on June 27, 2003, by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to the Islamic Republic of Iran to put an end to this widespread practice which it considered as arbitrary in nature (See the UN document E/CN4/2004/3/Add.2, paragraphs 4 and 5).



Moreover, on July 15, 2005, in a joint statement issued by the Geneva-based Office for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, five UN human rights experts (including Mrs. Hina Jilani, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders, Mrs. Leila Zerrougui, Chairperson and Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Mr. Manfred Nowak, Special Rapporteur on Torture, Mr. Paul Hunt, Special Rapporteur on the right to physical and mental health, and Mr. Ambeyi Ligabo, Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and _expression) expressed their “profound concern” at the alleged continued refusal by the authorities at Iran’s Evin Prison to provide Mr. Ganji with appropriate medical attention.





Action requested:



Please write to the Iranian authorities, urging them to:



i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Akbar Ganji;



ii. Ensure immediately the unconditional and definitive release of Mr. Akbar Ganji;



iii. Put an immediate end to all acts of harassment against Iranian human rights defenders;



iv. Conform with the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular its article 1 which provides that “every person has the right, individually or collectively, to promote the protection and fulfilment of human rights and fundamental liberties at the national and international levels”, as well as its article 12.2, which provides that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually or in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”;



v. More generally, conform with the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and with the other international instruments ratified by the Islamic Republic of Iran.





Addresses:



- Leader of the Islamic Republic, His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei, the Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Faxes: + 98 21 649 5880 / 21 774 2228 (ask fax to be forwarded to Ayatollah Khamenei), Email: webmaster@wilayah.org (on the subject line write: For the attention of the office of His Excellency, Ayatollah al Udhma Khamenei, Qom)

- President, His Excellency Hojjatoleslam val Moslemin Sayed Mohammad Khatami, the Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Fax: + 98 21 649 588, E-mail: khatami@president.ir

- Head of the Judiciary, His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi, Ministry of Justice, Park-e Shahr, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Fax: +98 21 879 6671, Email: Irjpr@iranjudiciary.com

- Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Kamal Kharrazi, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Abdolmajid Keshk-e Mesri Av, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Faxes: + 98 21 390 1999 (number may be unreliable; please mark “care of the Human Rights Department, Foreign Ministry”), Email: matbuat@mfa.gov

- Ambassador Mohammad Reza Alborzi, Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Chemin du Petit-Saconnex 28, 1209 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 7330203, E-mail: mission.iran@ties.itu.int

***
Geneva - Paris, July 21, 2005

Kindly inform the Observatory of any action undertaken quoting the code number of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.

The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.

Iran News - Family of Iran Ganji protests hospital conditions

Gulf Times Newspaper - Qatar, Gulf and World News - Iran dissident’s family protests: "Published: Saturday, 23 July, 2005, 01:01 PM Doha Time

TEHRAN: The family of Iran�s highest profile political prisoner said yesterday his fragile health has worsened and protested at poor hospital conditions after he was moved to a facility outside prison on the 37th day of his hunger strike.
�(Akhbar) Ganji was hospitalised (in jail) while he was on hunger strike and the conditions in which he finds himself in the hospital are worse than in prison,� said a letter to Milad Hospital signed by family members."

RADIO FREE EUROPE/ RADIO LIBERTY:Iranian Dissident's Health Reportedly Worsening

Ganji may be pardoned: Judiciary chief TEHRAN, July 20 (MNA) -- Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi Shahrudi said here on Wednesday that imprisoned Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji may be pardoned.

“We are currently studying to see whether public amnesties can be applied to his case or not,” Shahrudi told the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA).

“If he has a right with regard to law, he will be released,” he added.

President Mohammad Khatami “asked me to study the situation and I did so. There have been good works done on Ganji’s case,” Shahrudi said as carried by AFP.

Asked if Ganji would be kept in prison after the end of his current sentence, the Judiciary chief said, “There is no pending case against him. Ganji’s case is resolved. He has broken his hunger strike and is currently on medication in hospital.”

Shahrudi also warned against the pointless manipulation of public opinion by raising certain issues.

Akbar Ganji is serving a six-year prison sentence on a battery of charges, most notably his controversial allegations about the “serial murders” of Iranian intellectuals in the 1990s, which were later blamed on rogue intelligence agents.

AV/HL/HG

End

MNA

Publish date,Tehran: 2005/07/20, 19:42

© 2003 Mehr News Agency

Bahman Nirumand is concerned about the most recent developments in the case of the dissident Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji. Ganji, like many of his generation, was an initial supporter of the Ayatollah Khomeni's Islamic state, founded 26 years ago, but became critical of its development. Following studies in sociology, he published a paper that addressed the relationship between Islam and the modern state and, after it was prohibited, worked as a freelance investigative journalist, uncovering stories of state murders of intellectuals and regime critics. In 2000 he was sentenced to six years imprisonment. Following a recent 36 day long hunger strike, Ganji was taken to Tehran hospital under – as Nirumand emphasises - very strange circumstances. "The fact that Ganji has been taken to hospital is no grounds for relief: neither his family nor his lawyers are being allowed to visit him and the whole division has been turned into a military zone. That the judge and the director of the Milad Hospital are claiming that Ganji's condition is completely stable and that there was no hunger strike is nothing short of absurd."
Read the article (German)

Canadian Journalists for Free _Expression Protest Letter July 19, 2005
Country: Iran

Thank you for being a member of CJFE's Protest Letter List Srv. Please feel free to use the list srv. as a means of keeping up to date on CJFE's international advocacy work, or to take action yourself.

TAKE ACTION:

Email, Fax or Mail this letter.
Please feel free to adapt this letter, or add your own personal touch.
Remember to sign or write your name after "Yours truly," otherwise it will simply read "Your Name CJFE Member"
It always helps us to know if you have taken action, so that we can keep a record of activity on any particular case.
If you receive an answer please inform CJFE
If you have any questions, please contact CJFE program manager, Julie Payne at jpayne@cjfe.org.
Thank you!
________________________________________________________________

July 19, 2005

The Right Honourable Paul Martin
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A2

Dear Prime Minister,

I am writing as a member of Canadian Journalists for Free _Expression (CJFE), a non-profit, non-governmental organization that works to promote and protect press freedom and freedom of _expression around the world.

Today, as imprisoned Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji enters the 39th day of his hunger strike in Tehran, CJFE urges you to call on Iranian authorities for his release.

In 2000, Akbar Ganji was sentenced to six years in prison after writing a series of articles connecting high-level Iranian officials to the murders of several intellectuals in 1998. Prior to his imprisonment, Mr. Ganji was an investigative journalist for the now defunct Sobh-eEmrooz. In 2000, he was also the recipient of the CJFE International Press Freedom Award. He has reportedly been hospitalized due to his failing health and his family is said to have been denied access to him. Released on medical leave in May following an 11-day hunger strike, he resumed his protest when he was returned to Evin prison on June 11.

We believe that Mr. Ganji is a very brave man whose mistreatment by his government is attributable only to its wish to muzzle a critic who has courageously exposed outrageous government abuse in the past. If this abuse of him continues much longer, the Iranian authorities will turn him into a martyr. Releasing him is a better option for the government of Iran as he will likely become a thorn in its side, which, in true democracies, is what good journalists ought to be, and what accountable governments must endure.

According to the Reuters news agency, Akbar Ganji has lost 40 pounds and is suffering from acute asthma that he developed in prison. He has been repeatedly denied medical treatment and his family fears that his sentence will be extended to prevent his release. His on-going persecution has already cost him more than five years of freedom and now it may cost him is life.

CJFE calls on you and the Government of Canada to join with the European Union and the President of the United States in denouncing the treatment of Akbar Ganji by the Iranian government and to demand his unconditional release.

I look forward to receiving your prompt reply.

Yours truly,

Your Name

CJFE Member

_______________________________________________________________________

Case File Number: PL05-012

The Right Honourable Paul Martin
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2

Fax: (613) 941-6900

Email: pm@pm.gc.ca

The Honourable Pierre Pettigrew.
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Lester B. Pearson Building
125 Sussex Drive
Tower A, 10th Floor
Ottawa, ON K1A 0G2
Fax: (613) 996-3443
Email: pierre.pettigrew@international.gc.ca

Benoit Girouard
Desk Officer (Iran)
Political & Trade relations
Middle East Division (GMR)
Foreign Affairs Canada
125 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2
Fax: (613) 944-7975
Email: benoit.girouard@international.gc.ca

JAILED JOURNALIST HOSPITALISED

IFEX ::: "IFEX members have joined international demands for the release of jailed Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji, who was hospitalised on 18 July 2005 during a hunger strike that has lasted more than a month. He has reportedly lost 50 pounds.
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, PEN Canada, Human Rights Watch, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans fronti�res, RSF) have expressed deep concern for the journalist's health. Ganji has been taken to Tehran's Milad Hospital. "

FrontPage magazine.com :: Iranian Dissident Speaks by MEMRI. The London Arabic-language daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat published a letter by Iranian political prisoner Akbar Ganji, which was smuggled out of his solitary confinement cell.

CPJ concerned about health of jailed Iranian writer
Immediate release is sought
New York, July 18, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed deep concern today about the health of jailed Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji, who was reported hospitalized during his more than month-long hunger strike.

Massoumeh Shafii, Ganji's wife, told Reuters that Ganji had been taken to Tehran's Milad Hospital, the news agency reported today. She said Ganji was hospitalized because of health problems brought on by his hunger strike, which the journalist has waged to protest his imprisonment. His family and human rights activists said Ganji has lost more than 50 pounds during the hunger strike, Reuters reported.

The Iranian government today offered a different explanation for his hospitalization. Tehran's chief prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi, told the official IRNA news agency, that Ganji was taken to the hospital for knee surgery.

Ganji, 46, a leading investigative reporter for the now-defunct reformist daily Sobh-eEmrooz, was imprisoned in 2000 and sentenced to six years in jail for articles linking senior government officials to the 1998 killings of several dissidents and intellectuals.

"We are very concerned about the health of our colleague, Akbar Ganji, who felt compelled to wage this hunger strike to call attention to his unjust imprisonment," CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said. "He should be released immediately and unconditionally."

CPJ and other press and human rights groups have called for Ganji's release. The United States and the European Union have also sought Ganji's release and have criticized Iran for denying the journalist access to medical treatment, his family, and legal representation, Reuters reported. Outgoing President Mohammad Khatami has urged that Ganji be granted parole, but Iran's hard-line judiciary has refused.

Over the past five years, the judiciary has closed more than 100 publications, most of them reformist, on vague charges of insult and blasphemy, CPJ research shows. Iran's government told the United States today to stay out of Ganji's case, The Associated Press reported

Reporters Without Borders voiced outrage today at the refusal of the Iranian authorities to let the family and lawyer of imprisoned journalist Akbar Ganji visit him in the hospital to which he was rushed yesterday. Ganji has been on hunger strike for 37 days and has lost 22 kilos in weight.

"Ganji's family and lawyer must immediately be granted the right of visit allowed by Iran's laws, so that they can establish his state of health," the organisation said. "The attitude of the judicial authorities is unacceptable. They are directly responsible for his fate. A journalist cannot be allowed to slowly die and be denied the treatment he needs. That is a serious human rights violation."

MORE

Rachel Zabarkes Friedman on Akbar Ganji on National Review Online

IRAN: JAILED JOURNALIST ON HUNGER STRIKE TRANSFERRED TO HOSPITAL

news - Human Rights Experts express concern over reported denial of medical care to imprisoned Iranian journalist: "by the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Paul Hunt; the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Ambeyi Ligabo; the Special Rapporteur on torture, Manfred Nowak; the Special Representative of the Secretary General on human rights defenders, Hina Jilani, and the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Leila Zerrougui"

Ganji Is Near Death in Iranian Prison, a Dissident Reports - July 18, 2005 - The New York Sun - NY Newspaper

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iran hunger striker 'in hospital'

The Peninsula On-line: Qatar's leading English Daily: "Jailed Iran dissident to continue hunger strike: Wife "

"Ganji: 'From now on I won't cooperate with the prsion clinic officials'
Peyman Pakmehr, Human Rights Service, Tabriz News
In response to the judiciary's statements about his vital signs, Akbar Ganji said today he won't cooperate with prison clinic officals from now on.
The report of the human rights correspondent of Tabriz News states, jailed journalist Akbar Ganji, who has been taken from soliraty confinement to Evin's clinic after a long hunger strike, said this morning: 'Since the statements of the judiciary do not express the truth about my conditions, I am not willing to cooperate with the clinic officials on recording my vital signs effective now, Saturday July 17, 2005.'
Ganji is put under tight control and supervision in Evin's clinic.
Peyman Pakmehr, journalist in Tabriz
pakmehr88@hotmail.com
www.tabriznews.com
Tel: 98 (914) 415-7400
Date: July 17, 2005"

Take Action: Release Akbar Ganji: Jailed for Exposing Iranian Government's Complicity in Murder: "Imprisoned Iranian journalist and human rights activist Akbar Ganji is gravely ill and in need of immediate medical attention. Ganji suffers from an acute and worsening asthma condition and severe back pain. A vocal critic of the Iranian government, Ganji is being held incommunicado in solitary confinement in Tehran's Evin prison.
Akbar Ganji was tried and imprisoned as a result of his work to expose and bring to justice government officials involved in the murder of intellectuals and journalists in the 1990s, which came to be known in Iran as the 'serial murders.' "

RGC Hosted News and Activities: "Ganji: 'From now on I won't cooperate with the prsion clinic officials' "

Free Akbar Ganji--an appeal from theinternational community

Free Akbar Ganji

TO: Ayatollah Sayyid ‘Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran; Hojjatoleslam Sayyid Mohammad Khatami, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran; Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, Head of the Iranian Judiciary; Mr. Mohammad Hassan Zia'i-Far, Secretary of Islamic Human Rights Commission



We, the undersigned independent, non-partisan, international organizations and community of concerned journalists, academics, artists, writers, intellectuals, and defenders of human rights, express our grave anguish over the critically deteriorating health of the jailed Iranian journalist Mr. Akbar Ganji and call on Iranian authorities for his immediate release.

Ganji, a renowned Iranian investigative journalist, has been in jail since his arrest in April 2000, following his return from a conference at the Heinrich Böll Institute in Berlin. He was sentenced in January 2001 and, after an appeal court overturned his initial sentence, he was once again tried and condemned in July 2001. He was ultimately sentenced to six years imprisonment on grounds of his journalistic exposé (in 2000) of the serial murders of 5 opposition intellectuals by members of the Iranian security forces in 1998 as well as for the views he had expressed at the Berlin conference. Ganji remains a prisoner of conscience, serving a jail sentence for no more than his peaceful expression of views and journalistic activities. His case has been documented extensively by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, International PEN, and International Freedom of Expression Exchange, among numerous other independent international organizations.

Ganji suffers serious medical conditions (acute asthma and other respiratory ailments) and his health has fast deteriorated in recent weeks due to his treatment in prison, lack of adequate access to medical care, and his hunger strike in protest of his continued confinement and mistreatment. He is now into his second month on hunger strike. According to one of his lawyers, Shirin Ebadi (the 2003 Nobel Laureate for Peace), Ganji’s condition is extremely dire.
”Akbar Ganji is an Honorary Member of the Canadian, English, and Lichtenstein PEN Centers. He is a recipient of the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression 2000 International Press Freedom Award.”


Signed:

The International Society for Iranian Studies-Committee for Academic & Intellectual Freedom
(ISIS-CAIF)
PEN Canada
English PEN
Shirin Ebadi (2003 Nobel Peace Laureate, Iran)Jody Williams (1997 Nobel Peace Laureate, US)Archbishop Desmond Tutu (1984 Nobel Peace Laureate, South Africa)Mairead Corrigan Maguire (1976 Nobel Peace Laureate, Ireland)Betty Williams (1976 Nobel Peace Laureate, Ireland)Mehrangiz Kar (Radcliff College, Harvard University, US)
Noam Chomsky (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US)
Leszek Kolakowski (All Souls College, University of Oxford, UK)
Sabba Ebtekar (freelance journalist, Canada)
Jalil Roshandel (Duke University, US)
Slavoj Žižek (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia)
Ariel Dorfman (Duke University, US)
Asef Bayat (Leiden University, Netherlands)Shahrnoush Parsipour (author, US)Behrooz Ghamari (Georgia State University, US)
Ellen Carol DuBois (University of California, Los Angeles, US)
Bahriddin Aliev (Academy of sciences of Tajikistan)Judith Caesar (The American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates) Haleh Afshar (York University, UK)Valentine M. Moghadam (UNESCO, Paris, France)
Nancy Fraser (Henry A. & Louise Loeb Professor of Philosophy and Politics,
New School for Social Research, US)Farideh Farhi (University of Hawai'i at Manoa, US)
Misagh Parsa (Dartmouth College, US)
Ziba Mir-Hosseini (Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, Germany)
Richard Tapper (Emeritus Professor, University of London, UK)
Babak Tavoosi (University of Toronto, Canada)
Kazem Alamdari (California State University, Los Angeles, US)
Nader Hashemi (University of Toronto, Canada)
Matt Rothschild (editor, The Progressive magazine, US)
Goudarz Eghtedari (Portland State University, US)
Martha Nussbaum (University of Chicago, US)
Adina Back (New York University Institute for Education and Social Policy, US)
Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im (Emory University School of Law, Sudan/US)
Charles Taylor (McGill University, Canada)
Poopak Taati (Media for Thought, US)
Chris Toensing (editor, Middle East Research and Information Project, US)
Jonathan Rosenbaum (author & film critic for Chicago Reader, US)
Fred Dallmayr (University of Notre Dame, US)
Hussein Ibish (vice-chair, Progressive Muslim Union of North America, US)
Nariman Gasimoglu (Islamic scholar, Khazar University, Republic of Azerbaijan)Joanne Landy (co-director, Campaign for Peace and Democracy, US)
Dusan Velickovic (editor and publisher, Biblioteka Alexandria, Serbia & Montenegro)
Doug Ireland (L.A. Weekly, US)
Seyla Benhabib (Yale University, US)
Michael Kazin (Georgetown University, US)
Scott McLemee (Intellectual Affairs columnist, InsideHigherEd.com, US)
Partow Nooriala (poet and author, US)
Azadeh Kian-Thiébaut (University of Paris, France)Ezzat Goushegir (DePaul University & playwright and author, US)
Mansoor Farhang (Bennington College, US)Fatemeh Moghadam (Hofstra University, US)
Hamid Dabashi (Columbia University, US)Mahasti Afshar (California, US)Houchang E. Chehabi (Boston University, US)Mahin Khatami (molecular/cellular biologist, Georgetown University, US)Abdolreza Eshghi (Bentley College, Boston, US)Ann Elizabeth Mayer (University of Pennsylvania, US)Danny Postel (openDemocracy.net, US)
Nayereh Tohidi (California State University, Northridge, US)
Nancy Gallagher (University of California, Santa Barbara, US)Golpira Eshghi (Bentley College, Boston, US)Elizabeth Say (Dean of the College of Humanities, California State University, Northridge, US)Linda A. Moody (Dean of Academic Affairs, Antioch University, Los Angeles, US)S.A. Samadani (president, American Global University, US)Majid Tehranian (director, Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research, US)Niloofar Farnoodi-Zahiri (Stanford University & Santa Monica College, US)Ali Akbar Mahdi (Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, US)Nehzat Farnoodi (clinical psychologist, California, US)Mehrdad Mashayekhi (Georgetown University, US)Mohamad Tavakoli (University of Toronto, Canada)Mehrdad Darvishpour (Stockholm University, Sweden)
Jane Bayes (Director, Institute of Gender, Globalization and Democracy, California State University,
Northridge, US)Howard Zinn (historian and social activist, US)
Nikki Keddie (University of California, Los Angeles, US)
Scott Sherman (contributing writer, The Nation magazine, US)
Jillian T. Henderson (University of California, San Francisco, US)Taghi Mokhtar (editor, The Iranian, Washington, D.C., US)
Mohamad Navab (University of California, Los Angeles, US)
Arash Naraghi (University of California, Santa Barbara, US)Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak (University of Maryland, US)Babak Bazargan (senior engineer, Caltrans, US)Sherna Gluck (California State University, Long Beach, US)Sohrab Akhavan (freelance journalist, US)Roya Hakakian (author, US)Christina L. Lolachi (University of California, Irvine, US)Haleh Moshiri (University of California, Irvine, US)Mehdi khanbaba-Tehrani (journalist, Germany)
Sholeh Shahbaz (RAHAVARD Publication, US)
Sally Charnow (Hofstra University, US)
John L. Esposito (Georgetown University, US)
Thomas Keenan (Human Rights Project, Bard College, US)
Kavita Philip (associate professor, California, US)
Nader Entesar (Spring Hill College, US)
Hooshang Amirahmadi (Rutgers University, US)
Mehdi Amineh (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Ali Banuazizi (Boston College, US)
Ahmad Sadri (Lake Forest University, US)
Djamchid Assadi (American University of Paris, France)
Houshang Ardavan (University of Cambridge, UK)
Elham Gheytanchi (Santa Monica College, US)
Kamran Arjomand (University of Halle, Germany)
Hamid Zangeneh (Widener University, US)
John Lloyd (editor, Financial Times Magazine, UK)
Richard Davis (Ohio State University, US)
Juan R.I. Cole (University of Michigan, US)
Azam Niroomand-Rad (Georgetown University, US)Richard T. Peterson (Michigan State University, US)
William O. Beeman (Brown University, US)
Azar Nafisi (Johns Hopkins University, US)
Joshua Cohen (Massachusetts Institute of Technology & Boston Review, US)
Anthony Barnett (editor-in-chief, openDemocracy.net, UK)
Todd Gitlin (Columbia University, US)
Jonathan Rée (Royal College of Art & Roehampton University, UK)
Richard J. Bernstein (New School for Social Research, US)
Michael Bérubé (Pennsylvania State University, US)
Vinay Lal (University of California, Los Angeles, US)
Kaveh Ehsani (editorial board member, Middle East Report, US, & Goft-o-Gu, Iran)
Norma Claire Moruzzi (University of Illinois at Chicago, US)
Ahmed Nassef (editor-in-chief, muslimwakeup.com, US)
Mansour Bonakdarian (Hofstra University, US)
Jim Ledbetter (senior editor, TIME Europe, UK)
Thomas Cushman (editor, The Journal of Human Rights, US)
Lennard J. Davis (University of Illinois at Chicago & Director of Project Biocultures
www.biocultures.org, US)
Michael Walzer (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton & editor, Dissent magazine US)
Omid Payrow Shabani (University Of Guelph, Canada)
Kim Hewitt (Empire State College, US)
Maziar Behrooz (San Francisco State University, US)
Martin Shaw (University of Sussex, UK)


Please address all queries and correspondence to: ISIS-CAIF@hofstra.edu

FrontPage magazine.com :: Free Akbar Ganji by FrontPage Magazine

Open Letter to Mr. Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General about Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji

UN rights experts express concern for failing health of jailed Iranian journalist

Testing limits of dissent in Iran - Persian Journal Latest Iran news & Iranian Newspaper

Asharq Alawsat Newspaper (English) Iranian intellectuals call on the jailed writer Akbar Gangi to end his hunger strike

Release Akbar Ganji: Jailed for Exposing Iranian Government's Complicity in Murder

RADIO FREE EUROPE/ RADIO LIBERTY:Doctors Watching Hunger-Striking Iranian Journalist

AP Wire | 07/14/2005 | State Dept. cites Iran brutality reports: "The Iranian government responded Wednesday that Bush should not intervene in the case of the jailed dissident, especially in light of allegations of U.S. human rights violations in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prisons.
In the meantime, 33 Iranian political activists asked the United Nations to press for Ganji's release, warning his life was in danger because of his monthlong hunger strike, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
Casey said Ganji was only one of many people thrown into jail in Iran simply for expressing their opinions peacefully. 'There is no excuse for it,' he said. 'And it's not something the United States is going to stop speaking out on.'"

Human Rights News from Iran: Le Monde.fr Le Monde.fr : Le Monde.fr : Le dissident iranien, Akbar Ganji, qui observe une grève de la faim depuis 31 jours, a affirmé qu'il cessera son mouvement que s'il obtient une libération inconditionnelle", a déclaré sa femme Massoumeh Shafiie, citée lundi par l'agence de presse semi-officielle Ilna.

Ganji Resistance

URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY


IRN 001/ 0004/OBS030.6

New Information

Arbitrary detention/Hunger strike

Iran

July 13 2005



The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Iran.



New information:



The Observatory has received new information by the Iranian League for the Defense of Human Rights (Ligue pour la défense des droits de l’Homme en Iran - LDDHI) about the deteriorating health situation of Mr. Akbar Ganji, a prominent journalist and human rights defender who has been imprisoned for more than five years in Tehran’s Evin prison.

According to the information received, Mr. Akbar Ganji’s health has now become alarming after 27 days of hunger strike (See background information below).



The Observatory is extremely worried regarding Mr. Ganji’s health and life and urges the Iranian authorities to allow him to benefit from the adequate medical treatment requested by his state of health.



Moreover, on July 12, 2005, following a call for support from 400 intellectuals, hundreds of people gathered in front of the Tehran University, asking for the release of political prisoners, including Mr. Ganji. The police then assaulted the crowd, and several demonstrators were beaten and arrested.





Background information:



Mr. Akbar Ganji, of the daily newspaper Sobh-e-Emrooz, was arrested on April 22, 2000 for having written several articles suggesting the involvement of the Iranian regime, including former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and former Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian, in the assassination of dissident opponents and intellectuals in late 1998. Mr. Ganji was also arrested because he took part in a conference in Berlin on the Iranian legislative elections and democratic reforms in April 1998. In January 2001, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison but the appeal court reduced the sentence to six months in May 2001. However, in July 2001, the Supreme Court quashed the May sentence on technical grounds and imposed a six-year jail sentence on the charge of “threatening national security and propaganda against the institutions of the Islamic State” (See Observatory Annual Report 2004).



On May 19, 2005, Mr. Akbar Ganji began an “unlimited hunger strike” to protest against his imprisonment, which he called off on May 24, 2005, after negotiations with three prison officials who promised to give way to his demands the following week. But the following day, an assistant of the Tehran prosecutor accused him of lying and warned “the Ganji family not to continue with these lies”. The journalist then told his family that he had decided to renew his fast “and this time to the end”.


Mr. Akbar Ganji suffers from asthma and serious back problems, for which doctors recommended that he be immediately hospitalised. However, in detention, Mr. Ganji did not have access to adequate treatment. On May 28, 2005, Evin prison officials proposed to Mr. Akbar Ganji that he should be examined by two doctors chosen by his family to confirm his poor state of health and, on that basis, they would grant him permission to leave the prison. Mr. Ganji would be hospitalised for a week. On May 30, 2005, the Iranian authorities decided to release on a temporary basis Mr. Ganji, so that he may receive medical treatment.



On June 14, 2005, his house was searched on order of Mr. Mortazavi, Prosecutor of Tehran, in order to arrest him. On the following day, on June 15, 2005, Mr. Akbar Ganji presented himself to jail. On June 16, 2005, he started a hunger strike and he is currently held in solitary confinement in spite of the specific recommendation made on June 27, 2003, by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to the Islamic Republic of Iran to put an end to this widespread practice which it considered as arbitrary in nature (See the UN document E/CN4/2004/3/Add.2, paragraphs 4 and 5).





Action requested:



Please write to the Iranian authorities, urging them to:



i. Release Mr. Akbar Ganji immediately;



ii. Allow Mr. Akbar Ganji to benefit from the adequate medical treatment requested by his state of health, outside the Evin prison;



iii. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Akbar Ganji;



iv. Put an immediate end to all acts of harassment against Iranian human rights defenders;



v. Conform with the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular its article 1 which provides that “every person has the right, individually or collectively, to promote the protection and fulfilment of human rights and fundamental liberties at the national and international levels”, as well as its article 12.2, which provides that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually or in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”;



vi. More generally, conform with the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and with the other international instruments ratified by the Islamic Republic of Iran.





Addresses:



- Leader of the Islamic Republic, His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei, the Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Faxes: + 98 21 649 5880 / 21 774 2228 (ask fax to be forwarded to Ayatollah Khamenei), Email: webmaster@wilayah.org (on the subject line write: For the attention of the office of His Excellency, Ayatollah al Udhma Khamenei, Qom)

- President, His Excellency Hojjatoleslam val Moslemin Sayed Mohammad Khatami, the Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Fax: + 98 21 649 588, E-mail: khatami@president.ir

- Head of the Judiciary, His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi, Ministry of Justice, Park-e Shahr, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Fax: +98 21 879 6671, Email: Irjpr@iranjudiciary.com

- Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Kamal Kharrazi, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Abdolmajid Keshk-e Mesri Av, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Faxes: + 98 21 390 1999 (number may be unreliable; please mark “care of the Human Rights Department, Foreign Ministry”), Email: matbuat@mfa.gov

- Ambassador Mohammad Reza Alborzi, Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Chemin du Petit-Saconnex 28, 1209 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 7330203, E-mail: mission.iran@ties.itu.int


***
Geneva - Paris, July 13, 2005

Kindly inform the Observatory of any action undertaken quoting the code number of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.

The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
Tel and fax: FIDH : +33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / 33 1 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax: OMCT : + 41 22 809 49 39 / 41 22 809 49 29
E-mail : observatoire@iprolink.ch

Libe
ration :�Iran : le dissident Ganji en danger

gooya news :: english : Iran: Hunger strike and alarming health situation of Mr. Akbar Ganji

Khaleej Times Online- Iranian activists ask UN for help in dissident journalist’s case

deepikaglobal.com - Iran MPs to visit hunger-striking jailed journalist: "''Ganji has lost 17 kilograms (37 pounds) during his hunger strike which is a matter of concern,'' Tehran MP Saeed Abutaleb told the official IRNA news agency."

Pitures of Akbar Ganji in day 33 of his hunger strike

more pictures at Iranian.com

Iran: Leading Dissident's Life in Danger (Human Rights Watch, 14-7-2005)
New York, July 13, 2005) -- The life of Akbar Ganji, Iran’s imprisoned leading dissident, is under serious threat due to his illness and a month-long hunger strike, Human Rights Watch said today. Ganji, an investigative journalist who was sentenced to prison by the Iranian government in 2000, has lost more than 40 pounds during the past month.

“Human Rights Watch is extremely concerned for Ganji’s health. The Iranian judiciary’s refusal to release Ganji for medical treatment is cruel and inhumane,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “It is a serious contravention of the most basic humanitarian standards, and the international community should strongly condemn it.”

The Iranian judiciary imprisoned Ganji in April 2000 on vaguely worded charges, including “acting against national security” in connection with his participation at a conference in Berlin. He suffers from acute asthma that he developed in prison.

Iranian officials imprisoned Ganji shortly after the publication of articles he wrote documenting the involvement of high-ranking officials in the murder of intellectuals in the 1990s. The Iranian authorities have repeatedly prevented Ganji from receiving specialist medical care or taking medical leave as other prisoners are permitted. In protest of his unfair treatment, Ganji began a hunger strike last month, and has since sustained himself only on liquids.

Ganji has served nearly five-and-a-half years of his six-year sentence. Most prisoners in Iran are eligible for release after serving half of their sentence.

Ganji is one of the Iranian government’s most forceful critics. In his writings, he has criticized Iran’s system of governance. According to his wife, the judicial authorities have pressured him to “repent” for his writings as a condition for his release. In a letter smuggled out of jail last week, Ganji held Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamanei, directly responsible for his persecution.

Human Rights Watch is concerned that, in light of Ganji’s recent forceful criticism of the government, the Iranian judiciary may try to prolong his imprisonment by bringing new charges against him. The Iranian government frequently has relied on laws that restrict criticism of the government and its leadership as a basis for bringing charges against dissidents.

“After wrongfully imprisoning Ganji in the first place, the judiciary must not extend his imprisonment based on the opinions expressed in his recent prison letter,” said Whitson.

Human Rights Watch called on the Iranian authorities to release Ganji immediately for medical treatment and to end its persecution of peaceful critics and dissidents.

W.House urges release of jailed Iran journalist - Boston.com - George W. Bush - News

Rights & Democracy is deeply concerned with the fate of Mr. Ganji.

"To : Iranian Human Rights Activist Group in EU and North America (IHRAG)

11 July 2005

Dear Mr. Mahoutiha,

Thank you for the information you have been sending me regarding the human
rights situation in Iran, and more specifically the case of Mr. Akbar Ganji
and his hunger strike.

Rights & Democracy is deeply concerned with the fate of Mr. Ganji. We call
on the Iranian authorities to take immediate steps to ensure that Mr. Ganji
receives appropriate medical attention outside of prison, and to release
him immediately and unconditionally.

Unfortunately, Akbar Ganji�s arrest and subsequent imprisonment is not an
isolated case. We are aware that there are other political prisoners in
Iran -- people being held for their views and for their peaceful
opposition to a regime that abuses human rights. Such arrests, imprisonment
and harassment is completely unacceptable according to international human
rights law and norms.

Rights & Democracy will continue to monitor the situation in Iran, and to
do its utmost to support initiatives that lead to the democratization of
the country and the amelioration of the human rights situation.

In solidarity,

Razmik Panossian
----------------------------
Razmik Panossian
Director - Policy, Programmes and Planning /
Directeur - Politiques, programmes et planification
Rights & Democracy / Droits et D�mocratie
1001 boul. de Maisonneuve E., Suite/Bureau 1100
Montr�al, Qu�bec, H2L 4P9, Canada.
Web: www.dd-rd.ca"

"Open letter to Kofi Anan
by Political Activists and University Prof in Iran
A
His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan , Secretary General of the united Nations
Hello,
As you are well aware human rights and fundamental freedoms is one of the basic purpose of the Charter of U.N. The commission of Human Rights and committees, corresponding to the too important Covenants, have assumed special responsibility for observation and implementation of the said fundamental freedoms on behalf of the member � states of the United Nations.
Dear Mr. secretary General , Nowadays , one of the well- known political writers and Journalist, Mr. Akbar Ganji for the sake of his socio-political opinions has been under arrest for five years and has been subjected to cruel treatments on behalf of the corresponding Judicial authorities , so that he has been forced undergone life-struck forever thirty days , and repeated efforts for his medical treatments have been of no avail. Consequently his life is in an imminent danger. In the name of humanity the under signed individuals are demanding for direct intervention for saving the life of the said eminent political writer , which at the same time , would be regarded , the very observation of Human Rights as well.
Please Sir ,the accept of best wishes


1. Engineer Behaeddin Adab , Former member of parliament from Kordestan
2. Mr. Adib Broumand, Attorney at Law , President of the central council of The National Front of Iran
3. Dr.Mahlagha Ardalan , University Professor
4. Engineer Ali Afshari , The Member of Central Council of Daftare Tahkim Vahdat
5. Engineer Abas Amirentezam , Deputy of Prime minister of Transient Government & the Member of central council of The National Front of Iran
6. Mr. Mehdi Aminizadeh ,The Member of Central Council of Daftare Tahkim Vahdat
7. Dr.Saeed Ale Agha , University Professor
8. Dr. Hermidas Bavand , University Professor & the Member of central council of The National Front of Iran
9. Ms.Simin Behbehani , Famous Poet & the Member of Iranian writers Institute
10. Dr. Fateme Haghighatjoo , University Professor & Former member of parliament from Tehran
11. Mr. Ali Ashrafe Darvishian , Famous writer & the Member of Iranian writers Institute
12. Engineer Reza Delbari , The Member of Central Council of Daftare Tahkim Vahdat
13. Dr.Fariborze Raies Dana , University Professor & & the Member of Iranian writers Institute
14. Dr.Rashidi , Economist , University Professor & Under Secretary of the Central Bank Under Transient Government
15. Dr.Ahmad zeidabadi , University Professor & Journalist
16 Mr.Abdolfatah Soltani , Attorney at Law
17. Mr.Khosro Seif , President of melate Iran Party & Deputy of labor minister Under Transient government
18. Mr. Hosein Shah- hosiny , Deputy of Prime minister of Transient Government & the Head of Iranian Athletic Organization
RowNameposition
19. Engineer Hosien Shah-ovesi , Former Government of Kordestan
20. Major General Nasser Farbud , Chief of Staff Under Transient government & the Member of central council of The National Front of Iran
21. Engineer Aligholi Bayani , The Chief of Mardom Iran Party
22. Engineer Aliakbar Moienfar , Minister of Oil Under Transient government
23. Dr.Mohamad Maleki , Former Chief of Tehran University
24. Engineer Movahed , Deputy of Minister of Road Under Transient government & the Member of central council of The National Front of Iran
25. Engineer Aliakbar Mousavi Khoieni , Former member of parliament from Tehran & President of Central Council of Advare Daftare Tahkim Vahdat
26. Dr. Hosian Mousavian , Physician & The Head of Executive Board
of The National Front of Iran
27. Dr.Yosef Molaei , University Professor & Attorney at Law
28. Mr.Abdollahe Momeni , The Member of Central Council of Daftare Tahkim Vahdat
29. Dr.Mehdi Moayedzadeh , University Professor
30. Engineer Bahram Namazi , The Member of mellat Iran Party
31. Dr.Parviz Varjavand , University Professor & Minister of Culture Under Transient government & the Member of central council of The National Front of Iran
32. Engineer Korosh Zaim , Writer & & The Member of Executive Board of The National Front of Iran
33. Engineer Reza Khojasteh , Journalist

Pictures from rally in Tehranfor support of Akbar Ganji in (july 12)

- Clashes between Iranian students and police are reported to have occured at the University of Tehran, following a protest by the students asking for the release of Iranian dissident and journalist Akbar Ganji, who has been in prison since 2000. Ganji's has been on a hunger strike in a Tehran jail for the past month and his health condition is deteriorating.

IRAN: REPORTS OF CLASHES BETWEEN STUDENTS AND POLICE

Reuters AlertNet - Police beat protesters at protest rally in Iran: "The rally was in support of Akbar Ganji, an outspoken critic of the Islamic state's clerical leadership who was sentenced to six years in jail in 2001 for articles he wrote alleging links between senior officials and the murder of political dissidents"

RADIO FREE EUROPE/ RADIO LIBERTY: "Iran's most prominent jailed investigative journalist, Akbar Ganji, has been jailed for the last five years because of his critical articles and his investigation into the murders of political dissidents and intellectuals -- murders in which, he says, top Iranian officials were involved. Now, Ganji�s wife says that he has been on hunger strike for a month as he demands to be released unconditionally from prison. On 12 July, a gathering is due to take place in Tehran in his support."

Rights & Democracy is deeply concerned with the fate of Mr. Ganji.
We call on the Iranian authorities to take immediate steps to ensure that Mr.
Ganji receives appropriate medical attention outside of prison, and to release
him immediately and unconditionally.
Unfortunately, Akbar Ganji’s arrest and subsequent imprisonment is not an
isolated case. We are aware that there are other political prisoners in
Iran -- people being held for their views and for their peaceful
opposition to a regime that abuses human rights. Such arrests,
imprisonment and harassment is completely unacceptable according to international human
rights law and norms.

Rights & Democracy will continue to monitor the situation in Iran, and to
do its utmost to support initiatives that lead to the democratization ofa
the country and the amelioration of the human rights situation.

In solidarity,

Razmik Panossian
----------------------------
Razmik Panossian
Director - Policy, Programmes and Planning /
Directeur - Politiques, programmes et planification
Rights & Democracy / Droits et Démocratie
1001 boul. de Maisonneuve E., Suite/Bureau 1100
Montréal, Québec, H2L 4P9, Canada.

Iran News - Iranian dissident hits one month on hunger strike

IRAN WATCH CANADA : Coming together in front of Tehran University to save the life of Ganji , Ganji on his 28th day s of hunger strike !

Blog: Comment on Free Akbar Ganji: An Appeal from Shirin Ebadi: "Blog: Free Akbar Ganji: An Appeal from Shirin Ebadi "

AIC Update: "AIC:Petition Concerning Imprisoned Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji "

AIC Update: "AIC :Petition Concerning Imprisoned Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji"

Reporters sans frontires - Petiotion for releasing Ganji-

Immediate Action on Akbar Ganji Petition

Free Akbar Ganji Petition

EU: Greens in the EP support dialogue with Iran, but call for ''positive signals'' from Tehran
Green World Press Review/Rassegna Stampa Verde�Internazionale: "'' 'The release of both the opposition politician Akbar Ganji and an imprisoned journalist and 'blogger', could be considered a first step towards ensuring constructive relations between Iran and the EU,'' said the statement. "

FrontPage magazine.com :: War Blog by FrontPage Magazine: "Akbar Ganji is dying. "

O Sitio do Sindicato dos Jornalistas: "Akbar Ganji de novo na prisão
Após ter permanecido em liberdade por um curto período, devido a doença, o jornalista Akbar Gangi regressou à prisão a 11 de Junho por decisão da Justiça do Irão, mas já anunciou que vai reiniciar a greve de fome.
Proeminente jornalista, Akbar Ganji foi condenado, em 2001, a seis anos de prisão após ter escrito artigos que envolviam antigos oficiais do regime, incluindo o ex-presidente Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani e o antigo ministro da Inteligência Ali Fallahian, numa série de assassinatos a intelectuais.

Antes de sair em liberdade temporária, Akbar Ganji declarou sofrer de asma crónica e esteve em greve da fome por 12 dias, como forma de protesto por falta de tratamento médico.
"

P.E.N. Club Italiano : "Iran: Dissident journalist Akbar Ganji returned to prison; said to be held
in solitary confinement and to have started a hunger stike.
International PEN's Writers in Prison Committee has received confirmation that missing dissident journalist Akbar Ganji returned to Tehran's Evin prison on 11 June 2005 after being released on 29 May 2005 on medical leave. He is believed to be held in solitary confinement without access to
family visits and to be on hunger strike. International PEN is calling for his immediate and unconditional release, and seeks immediate assurances that he is treated humanely in detention and granted full access to family visits and all necessary medical care.
The following report is from the BBC world news website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/4083890.stm"

OMCT World Organisation Against Torture: "Iran: Arbitrary detention and hunger strike of Mr. Akbar Ganji


URGENT APPEAL THE OBSERVATORY

IRN 001 / 0004 / 030.5
New information
Arbitrary detention / Hunger strike
Iran
June 24, 2005


The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Iran.

Sydney PEN Center: "Iran: Serious concerns for the health of Hojjatoleslam Hasan Yousefi Eshkevari and Akbar Ganji"

UA: IRAN / Respond to an Urgent Action appeal now / Urgent Actions - Amnesty International Irish Section: "UA: IRAN
14 June 2005
UA 164 /05
Investigative journalist Akbar Ganji is being denied access to medical treatment. He is held incommunicado, reportedly in solitary confinement, and has begun a hunger strike in protest. "

PEN American Center - Akbar Ganji: "Here's What You Can Do
Please write a polite letter on your personal or institutional letterhead requesting that Akbar Ganji be released - or copy the one below - and mail to His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei (postage 80 ¢) and to the Iranian Interests Section (postage 37¢).

[Date]
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
c/o The Presidency
Palestine Avenue
Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran
Your Excellency,
I am writing to express my grave and urgent concern about the continued imprisonment of Akbar Ganji. As you know, Mr. Ganji was among 19 writers and intellectuals arrested for participating in an academic and cultural conference held in Berlin in April 2000. I fear Mr. Ganji is being detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression as guaranteed by Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which your country has ratified. Please reconsider Mr. Ganji's case and in a spirit of humanity order his immediate and unconditional release.
Sincerely,
[Your name and signature]
Cc:
Iranian Interests Section
c/o Embassy of Pakistan to the United States
2209 Wisconsin Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20007 "

amnesty international Berlin-Brandenburg: "Iran: Akbar Ganji, 45-jhriger Journalist

GESUNDHEITSZUSTAND / HAFT OHNE KONTAKT ZUR AUSSENWELT / SORGE UM SICHERHEIT

Dem Journalisten Akbar Ganji wird die Behandlung seines chronischen Asthmaleidens, die ihm ein Facharzt verordnet hat, von den iranischen Beh�rden verwehrt. Er befindet sich Meldungen zufolge ohne Kontakt zur Au�enwelt in Einzelhaft und ist aus Protest in den Hungerstreik getreten. amnesty international betrachtet ihn als gewaltlosen politischen Gefangenen, der allein wegen seiner regierungskritischen �u�erungen inhaftiert worden ist, und fordert daher seine sofortige und bedingungslose Freilassung. "

European Union calls on Iran to release political prisoner, Akbar Ganji (08/07/05)
"The European Union has made urgent representations about Akbar Ganji, a political prisoner detained in Iran. He is believed to be seriously ill and reportedly in need of urgent medical attention. In view of his condition and the need for appropriate medical care, the European Union calls on the Iranian authorities to free him immediately on humanitarian grounds. The European Union has also made representations about Nasser Zarafshan, another political prisoner, who has reportedly now been released."

Human Rights News from Iran: "Human Rights News from Iran
Iranian Human Rights Activist Groups in EU and North America ( IHRAG)"

Persian Students in the UK: Free Akbar Ganji

EU calls on Iran to release Ganji - Irna

La lettre de Hélène Flautre Présidente de la sous commission des droits de l'Homme Strasbourg le 5 juillet 2005 à Monsieur Michael Matthiessen Représentant personnel pour les droits de l'homme du secrétaire général du Conseil de l'Union européenne Monsieur Matthiessen à propos de Mr Akbar Ganji.
July 05, 2005

EU: La libération immédiate de Mr Ganji

Hélène Flautre

Présidente de la sous commission des droits de l'Homme

Strasbourg le 5 juillet 2005



To : Monsieur Michael Matthiessen

Représentant personnel pour les droits de l'homme

du secrétaire général du Conseil de l'Union européenne



Monsieur Matthiessen,



Mr Akbar Ganji, journaliste et défenseur des droits de l'homme iranien incarcéré à la prison d'Evin à Téhéran depuis plus de cinq ans, a entamé une grève de la faim le 16 juin 2005 pour protester contre les conditions de détentions inhumaines qu'il subit. Selon les informations qui nous ont été transmises par sa femme et par Reporters sans frontières, il était hier dans un état désespéré; ses jours sont en danger.



Mr Ganji a été arrêté le 22 avril 2000. Il était à l'origine de divers articles prouvant la responsabilité de hauts responsables politiques dans les meurtres d'opposants et d'intellectuels en 1998 et il avait participé à la Conférence de Berlin consacrée aux réformes en Iran et jugée antiislamique par les autorités du pays. Le 13 janvier 2001, il a été condamné à 10 ans de prison. En mai 2001, sa condamnation est réduite à 6 mois en appel mais le 15 juillet 2001, la Cour Suprême revient sur ce verdict pour irrégularités dans la procédure et le condamne à 6 ans d'emprisonnement pour "trahison à la sécurité nationale et propagande contre les institutions de l'Etat Islamique".

Depuis, Mr Ganji purge sa peine dans des conditions inhumaines. Il est en cellule d'isolement, n'a pas le droit d'avoir de contact avec sa famille et ses avocats. Il ne bénéficie pas des soins adaptés à son état de santé. Il souffre d'asthme aigu et de sérieux problèmes de dos, son état de santé est alarmant et nécessite une hospitalisation immédiate. Les autorités judiciaires ignorent les avis des médecins de la prison qui recommandent depuis trois ans un suivi médical extérieur.



Le 19 mai 2005, il a déclaré entamer une grève de la faim illimitée qu'il a interrompue momentanément le 24 mai après avoir obtenu une libération provisoire pour se soigner. Le 15 juin le Ministère public a ordonné son incarcération et M. Ganji a repris sa grève de la faim. Il est vital que Mr Ganji puisse suivre son traitement médical.



Je vous demande de faire tout ce qui est en votre pouvoir pour obtenir la libération immédiate de Mr Ganji afin qu´il puisse bénéficier des soins que nécessite son état. Je pense notamment qu´une démarche urgente de la part de la Présidence et des Ambassadeurs à Téhéran s´impose.

Sachant pouvoir compter sur votre diligence, je vous prie d'agréer, Monsieur Matthiessen, l'expression de mes sentiments les meilleurs.



Hélène Flautre

IRAN: IMPRISONED JOURNALIST NEARS DEATH

IHRAG's letter to Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of United Nations about Hunger

After 19 days on hunger strike, Akbar Ganji has written a letter from the prison saying incase of his death, Khameni Is Ganji's executioner :


A Letter to Free People Every Where

Nineteen days have passed since I began my hunger strike. I have lost nineteen kilograms. I am imprisoned. I do not have permission to make phone calls or read newspapers. I have been denied visitation. I cannot walk outside my cell. The liars say they have no political prisoners. They say the political prisoners are not on hunger strike. They distort the facts by calling a cell a suite, saying that prisons are as comfortable as they can be in a hotel! Calling a donkey a parrot does not miraculously turn the donkey into a parrot! Prisoner is someone whose liberty has been taken away. Does calling a prison a hotel change the nature of the prison? A political prisoner is someone who speaks his conscience. We are arrested solely because we differ from what is permitted. Human rights organizations are aware how hundreds of people have been imprisoned only because of different views. The liars change their words. First they say Ganji is in solitary confinement. Next he is on hunger strike. Then they say Ganji has to be punished. Next they quote doctors that Ganji has asthma. Have the doctors prohibited Ganji from visitations, reading newspaper, making or receiving phone calls, breathing fresh air, or seeing the sunlight? Is it why you have sent a smuggler who is sentenced to 15 years in prison to my cell in order to murder me? If punishment is to force me show remorse for my manifests, you will not achieve your objective. Iranian Stalinists have inherited these techniques from Stalin's interrogators. I have written the republicanism manifests after much research and study. I will not take back my word. I will not show remorse. I will not stop my hunger strike until I reach my goal.
Today my weary face reflects the true face of the Islamic republic of Iran's regime. Today I am the symbol of justice. Look closely and you see the regime's injustice. People wonder if I am the same person they once knew. Their torture has reduced my weight from 77kg to 58kg. They hide me from the world. They hide me from the journalists.

Khamanei will be directly responsible for my death. Mortazavi gets his orders from Khamanei via Hejazi (Khamenei's chief of staff). I am against Khamanei's unlimited lifetime rule because it is contradictory to the rule of people. I knew my statements would have ramifications and I was right. Even Rafsanjani, Karoubi, and Moin tasted a bit of Khamenei's democracy in this election. One-man rule contradicts democracy. In this system, one man orders and the rest have to obey. Mortazavi has told my wife that hundreds die everyday, Ganji could be one of them. These are Khamenei’s words that are spoken by Mortazavi. Ganji may die but seeking liberty, justices, democracy, hope, dream, and ideals will never die. Loving one another and making sacrifices will always stay alive.

Akbar Ganji

June 29th 2005
Translated by the weblog of " Zane Irani - Iranian Women