08/10/2005
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A country which, more than any other, finds itself under the spotlight due to
the imprisonment of a journalist. On Monday, in Iran, they celebrated the day
dedicated to those that follow this profession. “Akbar Ganji, every day walks
between life and death, there should have been a special place for him during
this day. But nobody could say anything,” says Bahore M, a twenty-two year old
journalist. “Instead his name gets a brief mention amongst the words in official
statements, besides this, last week the magistrate closed down the two newspapers
“Ashti” and “Eghbal”, but no one seemed to be very concerned about this.”
Iran Press Festival. The Iran Press Festival is a “politically correct” prize. Almost all the winners
come from reformist newspapers, but also amongst them you can see a Mullah, and
the number of women is equal to that of men. Besides which all are young people.
Presenters at the celebration occupy some of the most important public roles:
the President of the Press Union, the President of the most important editorial
group in the country and Ahmad Masjed Jamei, ex Minister of Ershad, the Minister
of Islamic Guidance and Culture, that is striving to revitalise the Iranian information
market before being thrown out. The words of these men begin with very long citations
from the Koran. During his participation, Masjed Jkamei had the courage to refer
to Ganji and his state of health. “His is an intellectual, an man of culture that
has decided to kill his intelligence by going on hunger strike. Our desire is
to make an appeal to him interrupt his fight and to start eating again. He needs
to act quickly because tomorrow it will be in all the newspapers,” he said passionately
and to the applause of everyone. Many of them looked anxious and some were crying.
Yet nobody said anything about banned newspapers.
An unexpected guest. But the faultlessness of this gathering was disturbed by the interruption of
a woman in a chador, the wife of Akbar Ganji. “I am here to tell you something
that happened on Sunday at my house: the police came and everything was thrown
up into the air. They accused me of being a spy, of transmitting information to
the foreign media, and of encouraging my husband to carry on with his hunger strike.
They threatened to arrest me and took away things: floppy disks, CD’s, personal
diaries. My daughter was terrorised,” she said in between her tears. According
to official sources, the police arrived at the front of the journalist’s house
at 9 o’clock in the morning, and this persecution lasted one hour. The condition
of the journalist, which is now on the 56th day of his hunger strike, is worsening
continually. He’s lost a lot of weight, and his body has no strength or resistance.
“I am dying, I won’t live much longer,” he says through the tears.
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The story of the journalist Akbar Ganji continues to keep the country holding its breath
Written for PeaceReporter
by Lara Vettipio
by Lara Vettipio
A country which, more than any other, finds itself under the spotlight due to
the imprisonment of a journalist. On Monday, in Iran, they celebrated the day
dedicated to those that follow this profession. “Akbar Ganji, every day walks
between life and death, there should have been a special place for him during
this day. But nobody could say anything,” says Bahore M, a twenty-two year old
journalist. “Instead his name gets a brief mention amongst the words in official
statements, besides this, last week the magistrate closed down the two newspapers
“Ashti” and “Eghbal”, but no one seemed to be very concerned about this.”On this day the regime organised a competition with a prize given to those who
could demonstrate enthusiasm and originality in following their profession. Also
this competition had to follow the political line of the regime, but this year
the wife of Akbar Ganji, Masumeh Shafiie, caused an eruption in the prize-giving
hall, shouting out her anguish to an apprehensive public.
Iran Press Festival. The Iran Press Festival is a “politically correct” prize. Almost all the winners
come from reformist newspapers, but also amongst them you can see a Mullah, and
the number of women is equal to that of men. Besides which all are young people.
Presenters at the celebration occupy some of the most important public roles:
the President of the Press Union, the President of the most important editorial
group in the country and Ahmad Masjed Jamei, ex Minister of Ershad, the Minister
of Islamic Guidance and Culture, that is striving to revitalise the Iranian information
market before being thrown out. The words of these men begin with very long citations
from the Koran. During his participation, Masjed Jkamei had the courage to refer
to Ganji and his state of health. “His is an intellectual, an man of culture that
has decided to kill his intelligence by going on hunger strike. Our desire is
to make an appeal to him interrupt his fight and to start eating again. He needs
to act quickly because tomorrow it will be in all the newspapers,” he said passionately
and to the applause of everyone. Many of them looked anxious and some were crying.
Yet nobody said anything about banned newspapers.But finally, the prizes: all on a table, and there were a lot. And at the end
they will be presented to those there. Presented to journalists that by and large
are from the reformist sector, and who were created to be seen as information
professionals. Many come from the group “Shargh”, which is actually the biggest
selling non-governmental daily newspaper in Iran and coming from the reformist
wing of the Iranian press. Even if it has modified its' editorial line following
the results of the last election.
An unexpected guest. But the faultlessness of this gathering was disturbed by the interruption of
a woman in a chador, the wife of Akbar Ganji. “I am here to tell you something
that happened on Sunday at my house: the police came and everything was thrown
up into the air. They accused me of being a spy, of transmitting information to
the foreign media, and of encouraging my husband to carry on with his hunger strike.
They threatened to arrest me and took away things: floppy disks, CD’s, personal
diaries. My daughter was terrorised,” she said in between her tears. According
to official sources, the police arrived at the front of the journalist’s house
at 9 o’clock in the morning, and this persecution lasted one hour. The condition
of the journalist, which is now on the 56th day of his hunger strike, is worsening
continually. He’s lost a lot of weight, and his body has no strength or resistance.
“I am dying, I won’t live much longer,” he says through the tears. One of the phrases of Masjed Jamei pronounced: “Thanks to Khatami it is now possible
to criticise power, and put it under discussion.” To which many have agreed with
a saying, that sadly, has become popular in the last eight years: “With Khatami
there is freedom of speech, but what we continue to lack is the freedom after
the expression.”
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