Iran's conservative judiciary has refused to bow to calls from senior figures to release hunger-striking imprisoned journalist Akbar Ganji, the student news agency ISNA reported on Saturday. Ganji, an outspoken critic of the Islamic state's clerical leadership, was jailed in 2001 following a series of articles he wrote linking officials to the murder of political dissidents.
"Ganji's rights must be observed and his problems must be solved, but the judiciary will under no circumstances give in to political pressure," judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi told ISNA.
A former hard-line Revolutionary Guard turned reformer, Ganji, whose family says has been on hunger strike for 50 days, was admitted to a Tehran hospital last week.
His wife, Masoumeh Shafiee, has told Reuters she is extremely concerned about his health.
Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani called this week for his release. Rafsanjani, president from 1989 to 1997, said he had been in talks with Shahroudi about Ganji's release.
Outgoing President Mohammad Khatami has urged that Ganji be paroled since he has just six months of his sentence to serve. The European Union and the United States have also called for his release.
"Recent comments by Ganji have made his case more complicated from a judicial point of view," Shahroudi added.
"He said things which can be considered a crime."
Some Iranian Web sites this week published a letter they said was written by Ganji in which he harshly criticised Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and asked him to step down.
He is under guard in Tehran's Milad Hospital, where Shafiee said he was still on hunger strike.
Comments
Comments are closed.