Free Republic

Police beat and arrest families of Akbar Ganji and Nasser Zarafshan June 17, 2005 Police wielding clubs beat family members of journalist Akbar Ganji, including his wife and brother, the journalist Masud Bastiani, and two members of the Association of Iranian writers on 16 June 2005. They had been taking part in a sit-in organised by relatives of prisoners outside Evin Prison, where police the previous day dispersed a group of around 60 people. They were then arrested and held throughout the day at the offices of police intelligence then the Tehran general prosecutor‚s office. Ganji‚s lawyers have not been...

Writer, Lawyer Dr. Nasser Zarafshan on the Verge of Death in Prison Prominent Iranian writer and lawyer Nasser Zarafshan who has been on a hunger strike for the past week in Iran’s infamous Evin Prison in Tehran is ill and at the brink of death. Zarafshan who has been in prison for close to four years has vowed to continue his hunger strike until his released despite his kidney stones. On June 18, over 120 International writers from the 71 Congress of International PEN held in Bled Slovenia signed a statement demanding the immediate release of Zarafshan and all other...

PARIS, 3 June (IPS) Prince Reza Pahlavi joined his voice to other Iranian dissidents inside and outside Iran to urge Iranians not to participate in the coming presidential elections and do not give popular legitimacy a “discredited regime”. “With more than 20 million votes, (outgoing President) Mohammad Khatami was not able to implement his reform program, what can a Hashemi Rafsanjani do, a man who is also very unpopular?”, the 45 years-old son of the late Iranian Monarch observed during a press conference held in Paris on 2 June on the invitation of the French-American Press Association, referring to reports...

Iranian Judiciary Allows Seven Jailed Dissidents to go on Leave May 02, 2004 Agence France Presse afp.com TEHRAN -- Iranian hardline judiciary authorities in a rare move have allowed seven prominent dissidents jailed for speaking out against the regime and students jailed during unrest in 1999 to go on leave, the Iranian daily Shargh reported on Sunday. According to the paper, Akbar Ganji, who was jailed in 2000 after he alleged top regime officials were behind a spate of grisly serial murders of dissidents, was given seven days of leave starting Saturday. Ahmad Batebi, Nasser Zarafshan and Akbar Mohammadi were...