Detained journalist let out of prison temporarily to receive medical treatment

Reporters Without Borders hailed the decision of the Iranian authorities to let detained journalist Akbar Ganji out of prison today for an undetermined period so that he may receive medical treatment. "We are pleased Akbar Ganji's demands have at last been heeded but we are monitoring developments closely and we will continue to keep up pressure on the Iranian authorities until Ganji has been granted an unconditional and definitive release and until the eight other detained journalists and three detained cyber-dissidents have been freed," the organization said. Ganji told Reporters Without Borders after being let out today that Evin prison officials proposed to him on 28 May 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. When his wife and the doctors went to the prison yesterday, the guards told them their visit was no longer necessary as a decision had already been taken to let Ganji out for a week. But Ganji reacted by refusing the "offer" because he had been demanding a month-long exit permit. Guards finally came to his cell after midnight and told him he was being allowed out immediately, and they did not specify for how long. Ganji will be hospitalized for a week. Pressure from international organizations, and from bloggers and other Internet users who have been constantly relaying developments about Ganji's state of health, almost certainly played a key role in this decision by the Iranian authorities. ----------------------------------- 27.05.05 - Call to EU foreign ministers and Javier Solana to put pressure on Iran in Akbar Ganji case Reporters Without Borders has called on the 25 EU foreign ministers and on Javier Solana, EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, to do their utmost to press the Iranian authorities to respond to the demands of a hunger-striking prisoner. Journalist Akbar Ganji, imprisoned for five years, is currently on an unlimited fast to claim the right to appropriate medical treatment and his general rights as a prisoner. "The European Union which says it has opened a 'constructive dialogue' with Iran since 1998, has the duty to question the authorities to ensure that a major media figure and human rights activist does not die because of their inactivity," said Reporters Without Borders. Akbar Ganji, detained unfairly for five years and hostage of the Iranian regime is now ill. Reporters Without Borders calls on the authorities to give immediate guarantees on the journalist's state of health. "In no case should his life be put at risk, neither on the basis of health nor because of ill-treatment, a commonplace occurrence at Evine Prison as several recent cases showed, including that of Iranian-Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi", the organisation added. "We also call on the European Commission to put pressure on the authorities to undertake an inspection of Iranian prisons, where a hunger strike has become the sole resort for journalists trying to obtain their rights as prisoners," it said. Ganji began an "unlimited hunger strike" on 19 May 2005. He called it off on 24 may 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." His wife, Masoleh Shafii, told Reporters Without Borders: "He is determined to go through to the end. He is sick and weak. As well as the fast, he has stopped taking his medication and his life is really in danger." Ganji, who worked on the daily paper Sobh-e-Emrooz, was arrested on 22 April 2000 after appearing before the press court accused of writing that leading figures, including former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and former intelligence minister Ali Fallahian, had been involved in the murder of opponents and intellectuals in late 1998. He was also accused of taking part in a conference in Berlin about reform in Iran which the government charged was "anti-Islamic." He was sentenced on 13 January 2001 to 10 years in prison but the appeal court reduced this to six months on 15 May 2001. However on 15 July 2001, the supreme court quashed the May sentence on technical grounds and imposed a six-year jail sentence. He is being held in solitary confinement and, unlike other political prisoners, is not allowed to phone his wife, and is rarely allowed to leave the prison, although the law permits this. In the course of his five years in prison, he has been allowed only 40 day-passes, most of them for medical appointments. Hospital doctors have recommended that he be hospitalized for back problems and asthma, which has got worse because of his prison conditions, but the judicial authorities continue to block this. His lawyer, Nobel peace laureate Shirin Edabi, has voiced great concern about his state of health. Over 15 years ago, Reporters without Borders created its "Sponsorship Programme" and called upon the international media to select and support an imprisoned journalist. More than two hundreds news staffs around the globe are thus sponsoring colleagues by regularly petitioning authorities for their release and by publicising their situations so that their cases will not be forgotten. Currently, Akbar Ganji is sponsored by Le Devoir, Nice-Matin, La Montagne.