The ordeal of Akbar Ganji, Iranian journalist and writer, continues. His hunger strike “was ended under unknown conditions”, according to this comprehensive Wikipedia article. Now, from Human Rights Watch:
The imprisoned Iranian journalist and dissident, Akbar Ganji, said that Judiciary officials have tortured him to renounce his writings. Human Rights Watch today expressed grave concern for his physical well-being and urged the Iranian government to release him immediately and unconditionally.
“Ganji’s situation is now extremely critical,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities are exerting tremendous pressure on him to disavow his writings.”
The Judiciary has held Ganji in solitary confinement since September 3 in a special ward of Tehran’s Evin prison known as Alef-2. The authorities barred his family and lawyers from visiting him except for one brief visit on October 18 by his wife, Massoumeh Shafii, and one of his lawyers. Afterwards, his wife published a letter detailing Ganji’s account of his mistreatment by Judiciary officials.
In addition, the Judiciary detained one of Ganji’s other lawyers, Abdolfattah Soltani, on July 30. Since then, he has been held without charge, mostly in solitary confinement. Soltani is a co-founder of the Center for Defense of Human Rights, an independent rights organization in Tehran.
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