(WiPC/IFEX) – The WiPC is seriously concerned about reports that journalist Akbar Ganji has been ill-treated in prison. International PEN is calling for a full and public investigation into Ganji’s allegations of ill-treatment in detention, and urges the Iranian authorities to take immediate measures to ensure that Ganji is treated humanely. International PEN considers Ganji […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – The WiPC is seriously concerned about reports that journalist Akbar Ganji has been ill-treated in prison. International PEN is calling for a full and public investigation into Ganji’s allegations of ill-treatment in detention, and urges the Iranian authorities to take immediate measures to ensure that Ganji is treated humanely. International PEN considers Ganji to be detained in violation of his right to freedom of expression as guaranteed by Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory, and is calling for his immediate and unconditional release.
According to the WiPC’s information, Ganji was brought before the Revolutionary Court in Tehran on 9 November 2000. He reportedly told the judge that before being brought to court he had been hung upside down in his cell whilst four prison guards kicked him in the head and stomach. He is believed to have started a hunger strike in protest against the treatment he has suffered, which included eighty days in solitary confinement, without access to his family or his lawyer.
Ganji was arrested on 22 April following his participation in an academic and cultural conference held at the Heinrich Böll Institute in Berlin from 7 to 9 April entitled “Iran after the elections”. Ganji is believed to face several charges relating to articles he wrote implicating senior Iranian political figures in the 1998 murders of a number of intellectuals and writers, and statements he made at the Berlin conference. The charges reportedly involve “threatening national security”, “dissemination of propaganda against the Islamic system”, and insulting religious edicts and figures.
Background Information
Ganji was one of a number of Iranian journalists and intellectuals who attended the conference in Berlin, at which political and social reform in Iran were publicly debated. The conference was marked by strong protests by Iranian political groups in exile, and members of the Iranian judiciary apparently consider attendance at the conference to be “harmful to national security”. Many other prominent Iranian intellectuals who attended the Berlin conference have since faced arbitrary detention and interrogation, and nineteen people have reportedly been charged. Among them are eleven writers, two of whom may be facing the death penalty.
International PEN is seriously concerned about the allegations of ill-treatment brought by journalist Ganji, and seeks assurances from the Iranian authorities that Ganji will be treated humanely in detention. International PEN considers Ganji and all other writers charged in connection with their attendance at the Berlin conference to be detained or charged for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression as guaranteed by Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory, and is calling for the immediate and unconditional release of those detained, and for all charges against these writers to be dropped.
Recommended Action
Please send appeals to authorities:
– expressing serious concerns about the allegations of ill-treatment of Ganji in prison, and calling for an immediate public investigation into these allegations
– seeking urgent clarification of the charges faced by the participants at the Berlin conference, and calling for these charges to be dropped unless brought for a recognisable criminal offence
– calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Ganji and all other writers imprisoned in violation of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory
– seeking assurances that whilst detained all will be treated humanely, and granted access to legal representation, their families and any necessary medication
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei
Leader of the Islamic Republic
The Presidency
Palestine Avenue
Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran, Islamic Republic of IranHis Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahrudi
Head of Judiciary
Ministry of Justice
Park-e Shahr
Tehran, Islamic Republic of IranPlease note that there are no fax numbers available for the Iranian authorities, so you may wish to ask the diplomatic representative for Iran in your country to forward your appeals, or write to Ayatollah Khamenei at the following address:
His Excellency Sayed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
c/o Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
622 3rd Ave, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Fax: +1 212 867 7086Please copy appeals to the diplomatic representative for Iran in your country and to the source, if possible.
