Published on 20 September 2005
19 March 2010 - Press freedom violations recounted in real time (from 1st January 2010)
17 March 2010 - Blogger’s death in detention still unexplained one year later
3 March 2010 - Two newspapers closed, detained journalists under pressure to request forgiveness
Noting that Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji has not been allowed any visits since his return to Evin prison from hospital on 3 September, Reporters Without Borders today voiced concern and outrage about the behaviour of the Iranian authorities towards him and their failure to keep their promises.
“Ganji seems to have been placed in total solitary confinement in a special section of Evin to which only the Revolutionary Guards have access,” the press freedom organisation said. “Shutting him away like this is a flagrant violation of Iranian law, which explicitly says detainees may receive visits from their relatives and lawyers. The sole aim of the prison authorities seems to be to break Ganji completely.”
Reporters Without Borders added: “ We once again condemn of the failure of senior Iranian officials to respect their undertakings towards Ganji and his family. We have always supported negotiations with the precise objective of obtaining his release. Now, faced by the silence coming from the judicial authorities, we are resolved to press on with our campaign. The lack of any news is particularly worrying.”
Reached by telephone, Ganji’s wife, Massoumeh Shafii, said she was also very worried by the lack of news and the fact that she has not been able to visit him since 26 August.
Ganji lost at least 25 kilos in the course of a hunger which he continued for more than two months. After ending the hunger strike on 22 August, he was allowed only two weeks to recover in hospital before being sent back to prison on 3 September.
Over 15 years ago, Reporters without Borders created its "Sponsorship Programme" and called upon the international media to select and support an imprisoned journalist. More than two hundreds news staffs around the globe are thus sponsoring colleagues by regularly petitioning authorities for their release and by publicising their situations so that their cases will not be forgotten. Currently, Akbar Ganji is sponsored by Le Devoir, Nice-Matin, La Montagne
Adel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, better known by the pen name Kareem Amer, was arrested on 6 November 2006, for articles published on his blog .
