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Case Sheet: Akbar Ganji - Iran
Akbar Ganji is an investigative journalist who was arrested on April 21, 2000, upon his return to Iran after attending an academic and cultural conference on Iran in Berlin. He was charged with “insulting religious edicts and figures, threatening national security and dissemination of propaganda against the Islamic system.” He was brought to the Revolutionary Court on November 9, where he told the judge he had been hung upside down in his cell while being kicked in the head and stomach by four prison guards. He started a hunger strike to protest his treatment, including 80 days in solitary confinement and no access to his family or lawyer. Ganji was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment and five years’ internal exile.
Ganji is most famous for his articles on a series of murders of Iranian writers, which went as far as to implicate former president Rafsanjani and other high-ranking officials. Of his ten-year prison sentence, six years were for “spreading propaganda against the Islamic regime” for these articles. On May 15, 2001, the appellate court reduced his sentence to six months; however, this was immediately appealed to the Supreme Court, which overruled the appellate court’s decision and referred the case to a different appeals court. On July 16, 2001, Ganji was sentenced to six years in jail on charges of collecting confidential information that harms national security and spreading propaganda against the Islamic system. This ruling was reportedly “definitive,” meaning that it cannot be appealed.
On October 15, 2003, Ganji was reported to have appeared before an examining magistrate to answer questions about his book, Prison-like Archipelago. There are said to be several cases pending against Ganji for articles he has written, including charges of “propaganda against the regime” and publishing lies, insult and libel. In September 2004, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi decided to take up Ganji’s case and joined with two other lawyers in defending the journalist.
Ganji is serving his sentence in Evin prison in Tehran. He reportedly suffers from chronic asthma. He is said to have had only 48 days of leave from jail in 53 months of imprisonment.
PEN Canada believes the detention of Akbar Ganji is in violation of his right to freedom of expression as guaranteed by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. PEN Canada calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Akbar Ganji and for all charges against him to be dropped. In the meantime, we call on the Iranian authorities to treat him humanely.
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