[FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great

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Khaleej Times Online >> News >> EDITORIAL >> Editorial
One man's war

One man's war
22 August 2005


THE UNITED NATIONS Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged the Iranian government to release Akbar Ganji, the celebrated journalist who has been fighting for his life, and freedom, for the past two months in a Teheran hospital.

The 45-year old journalist has been on a 'fast-unto-death' since June 11 demanding his release. Ganji is said to be nearing his end but stubborn refuses all food and medical treatment.

Ganji's struggle for justice and media freedom is a case example of the challenges the media faces in this part of the world. Many a publication in Iran is routinely closed and its editor and publisher suitably penalised for crossing the limit imposed by the state.

Ganji is paying for his 'crimes' too. He had the gall to take on the establishment by writing and publishing damning reports about some political killings in the country. The journalist was arrested in 2001 and sentenced for six years. Last month, the judge who gave him the prison sentence was himself killed in mysterious circumstances.

Without getting into the never-ending debate about the state of affairs in Iran and the nature of charges brought against Ganji, it must be pointed out that the journalist — easily the country's most famous voice of dissent — has suffered enough for his alleged crimes. President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and the Iranian authorities should consider Ganji's case sympathetically and let him go, as Annan has pleaded, on humanitarian grounds.

A country that has no stomach for criticism and throws its fearless journalists behind bars loses all respect in the eyes of the world community. You target one journalist and you end up on the wrong side of the world media forever.
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The Sun Is Rising In The West!Soon It Will Shine on All of Iran!

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Prince Reza Pahlavi Message regarding hunger strike in Persian:

http://www.rezapahlavi.org/messages/strike82305.pdf