Lack of transparency, denial of justice in hospitalisation of Akbar Ganji

Reporters Without Borders voiced outrage today at the lack of transparency and denial of justice surrounding the hospitalisation of imprisoned journalist Akbar Ganji, who has been on hunger strike for 38 days, and the organisation reiterated its call for his immediate release. Ganji's family has also protested about the circumstances of his hospitalisation in an open letter to the head of the Iranian judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi, accusing Tehran prosecutor Said Mortazavi of failing to cooperate with the family and condemning the refusal to allow Ganji's lawyers to visit him. Ganji was taken on 17 July to Milad hospital in Tehran, where he has been isolated on the hospital's 12th floor. The ban on visits by his lawyers violates Iranian law. Voicing concern about his condition, Reporters Without Borders called on the director of Milad hospital to issue a daily bulletin on his state of health. The press freedom organisation added: "We call on the daily newspaper Kayhan, headed by Hossin Shariatmadry, to stop spreading rumours accusing the reformists of paving the way for Ganji's death with the aim of blaming it on the Iranian regime." According to judicial officials, Ganji was hospitalised for a knee operation. It has also been reported that he has called off his hunger strike. Ganji was sentenced to six years in prison in 2001 for an article linking senior regime officials to a series of murders of writers and intellectuals. He has been held in Evin prison, where he began his hunger strike on 10 June. He has lost 22 kg since he stopped eating. Calls for his release have been made by US President George Bush, the European Union and many international human rights organisations.