Iranian activists ask UN for help in dissident journalist’s case

Khaleej Times:

Iranian political activists on Wednesday asked the United Nations to intervene for the release of an Iranian journalist jailed for writing articles linking government officials to murder, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

“For the sake of human rights (we) ask you to intervene directly in (Akbar) Ganji’s case and follow it as an urgent human rights issue,” 33 activists said in a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. READ MORE

“Akbar Ganji’s life is in danger due to his month long hunger strike. Requests for transferring him to hospital have been rejected,” the letter said.

“It is a pity that people have no choice except to appeal to the international bodies to follow their demands. The government does not tolerate any criticism,” Khosrow Seif, a dissident and one of the signatories of the letter, told The Associated Press.

A call to the judiciary was not immediately returned Wednesday.

On Tuesday US President George W. Bush called for Ganji’s release. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said in a statement that Bush called on Iran to “immediately and unconditionally” release him.

Also on Tuesday, about 300 demonstrators gathered outside Tehran University demanding Ganji’s release.

In May, Ganji was temporarily released from prison for medical attention, ending a 43-day hunger strike. He returned to jail in June and resumed his strike.

Since then Ganji’s health has been failing. He has repeatedly complained that the government has denied him access to his family, medical treatment, and legal representation.

Ganji was sentenced to six years jail in 2000 after his investigation of the 1998 murders of five dissidents by Intelligence Ministry agents. Ganji was convicted and jailed on charges that the articles he wrote in several reformist publications had violated the law. The US State Department also called for Ganji’s release last month.

Iran’s hard-line judiciary has closed down more than 100 pro-democracy publications in the past five years, including the papers Ganji wrote for, on vague charges of insulting religious sanctities and top clerics.

The Intelligence Ministry blamed the murders on “rogue agents,” but Ganji’s articles said the killings were ordered by senior hard-liners in the ruling Islamic establishment, including former hard-line Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian. Fallahian has denied any involvement.

Kofi Annan has not responded to their call.