UN Rights Expert Urges Iran To Free Jailed Journalist

Dow Jones Newswires:

A U.N. rights expert Monday asked Iran to release an imprisoned journalist, saying Akbar Ganji has reportedly been returned from hospital to prison despite his poor health. "I call on the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to grant him an unconditional amnesty on humanitarian grounds and to release him without further delay," said Ambeyi Ligabo, the U.N. expert on freedom of opinion and expression. READ MORE

Ganji was jailed in 2000 for writing articles linking government officials to murder and was placed in solitary confinement in a prison that reportedly wasn't equipped to treat his chronic asthma, U.N. rights experts have said. Earlier this year, Ganji was sent to a hospital but has now been returned to prison.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent a letter to Iran's president seeking the release of Ganji after the investigative journalist went on hunger strike earlier this year.