Since early 2000, human rights defenders and advocates of political reform have faced sustained repression in Iran. Some have been forced into exile, others imprisoned and all of them blocked in their activities by the closure of independent newspapers and magazines and threats against nascent independent nongovernmental organizations and internet activists.
Akbar Ganji is an investigative journalist in Iran who has written extensively about the involvement of government officials in the "serial murders" of Iranian intellectuals and writers in the 1990s. Ganji's book on this topic, Dungeon of Ghosts, is regarded as a devastating expose of official involvement in murder.
After participating in a conference in Berlin on political and social reform in Iran in April 2000, Akbar Ganji was arrested and sentenced to six years imprisonment on charges of "acting against national security" and disseminating materials that were "anti-Islamic." Ganji's detention is in reprisal for his criticism of political leaders and government impunity, and for the peaceful expression of his political beliefs. In his writings and interviews, Ganji has also criticized the election process in Iran, spoken out against the use of torture in Iran's prisons, and called for the release of all political prisoners, including imprisoned journalists and students.
Akbar Ganji suffers from asthma and chronic back pain. In October 2004, doctors at Evin prison in Tehran instructed prison authorities to provide Ganji with specialized medical care outside of the prison. After the Public Prosecutor refused to allow him to leave, Ganji began a hunger strike in protest on May 19, 2005. Ganji ended his strike on May 24, when prison officials agreed to let him leave Evin to receive medical treatment. Although the specialist provided written certification that Ganji required extended leave from prison to treat his serious condition, on June 11 he was rearrested and returned to Evin prison without receiving the necessary medical treatment. Ganji publicly criticized the government and his prison conditions during his time out of prison, and believes this may have prompted his re-arrest.
On June 11, Ganji began another hunger strike to protest the denial of urgently-needed medical care and the conditions surrounding his illegitimate arrest and detention. At the time, his wife and lawyer were denied access to him and he was being held incommunicado in solitary confinement. Since returning to prison, Ganji's health had rapidly deteriorated and required immediate medial attention.
Following weeks of protests by international human rights organizations and prominent world leaders, Ganji was transferred to Milad Hospital in Tehran on July 17, 2005 to receive urgent medical care. Ganji ended his hunger strike on August 20, following pleas from his family and supporters.
On September 3, Ganji was returned to Evin Prison and held in solitary confinement. Since his return to prison he has been permitted only very limited access to his family and lawyer. His wife, Massoumeh Shafiei, last visited him on January 19, 2006 and found him emaciated and suffering from insufficient food and a lack of medicine and necessary care for his chronic diseases. It is now winter in Tehran and his wife described how there is no running water in the prison washroom from evening until mid-morning since the water pipes are frozen. This harsh treatment appears to be a continuation of the punishment to which he has been subjected in recent months for refusing to recant his previous writings and for continuing to issue statements highly critical of the Iranian authorities.
Ganji's conditions of detention are in clear violation of the U.N. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, which specifies that: "Sick prisoners who require specialist treatment shall be transferred to specialized institutions or to civil hospitals" (Article 22). The Rules also require that "any prisoner shall be given all reasonable facilities for communicating with his family and friends, and for receiving visits from them and from his legal advisor" (Articles 92 and 93).
Ganji's six year prison term is scheduled to expire on April 22, 2006, but there are many official complaints pending about his writings and it is feared that the authorities may try to use these as a pretext to prolong his imprisonment.
Akbar Ganji should never have been imprisoned. He was punished for exposing unpalatable truths about the involvement of Iranian leaders in grave crimes. He should be released immediately, and while he remains in prisons he must be treated humanely and in accordance with international standards.
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