‘Ganji back in solitary confinement’

The Daily TImes PK:

Iranian dissident journalist Akbar Ganji appears to have been sent back to solitary confinement despite promises by judiciary officials that he would be freed from prison, his wife said on Sunday. READ MORE

Ganji, jailed in 2000 after writing a series of articles linking senior officials to the murder of political dissidents, was hospitalised in July when his health deteriorated due to a hunger strike aimed at pressuring authorities to release him. The outspoken reporter, whose plight brought comments of outrage and concern from the United States and European Union, eventually called off his hunger strike after more than 60 days last month.

‘I’m sure he’s in solitary again otherwise we’d have heard from him,’ Massoumeh Shafii, Ganji’s wife, told Reuters by telephone. ‘I’m concerned about his condition as I haven’t seen him since August 26.’ Ganji only ended his fast after receiving assurances from judiciary officials he would be allowed to go home, she said.

“At least we could hear his doctors’ reports about his health while he was in the hospital ... his health is not good enough for him to be in solitary confinement again.” Shafii said she had written to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan asking him to try to secure Ganji’s freedom.

Iran says it considers EU and US calls for Ganji’s release as meddling in its internal affairs. Ganji’s lawyer Shirin Ebadi, winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, has said her client should have been freed from prison long ago on parole since he has completed almost all of his six-year term.