Hunger-Striking Iranian Dissident Near Death

Akbar Ganji (file photo) 29 July 2005 -- The wife of a prominent Iranian dissident who is on hunger strike said today that her husband is near death.

Akbar Ganji has been on hunger strike for nearly 50 days to try and secure his release from prison.

His wife, Massoumeh Shafiie, today told Iran's student news agency ISNA that these could possibly be "the last days of Ganji's life."

Ganji was jailed in 2001 for six years for publishing articles linking government officials to political murders.

The United States and the European Union have called on Iran's hard-line authorities to release him from jail.

(AFP)


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