Accessibility links

Breaking News

Iran Rejects Request To Free Journalist


Akbar Ganji (file photo) 8 August 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Iran has rejected a request from the European Union to release journalist Akbar Ganji, who has been on hunger strike in jail for more than 50 days.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said today Iran does not allow foreign envoys to intervene in its internal affairs.

On 5 August, British Ambassador Sir Richard Dalton had asked authorities to free Ganji, who is said to be close to death.

Ganji's lawyers have urged him to give up his hunger strike.

He was jailed in 2000 for reporting that intelligence officials had killed five Iranian dissidents two years earlier. Iran's Intelligence and Security Ministry later blamed the murders on rogue agents in the secret service.

(AP/AFP)

See also: Iran: Concern Grows Over Fate Of Jailed Journalist

RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.

If you are in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine and hold a Russian passport or are a stateless person residing permanently in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine, please note that you could face fines or imprisonment for sharing, liking, commenting on, or saving our content, or for contacting us.

To find out more, click here.

XS
SM
MD
LG