Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is an influential Iranian politician, writer and former president. Currently he holds the position of Chairman of the Assembly of Experts and Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council of Iran Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani ' onMouseout='HidePop("46099")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Aleksandr_Solzhenitsyn">Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was a Soviet and Russian novelist, dramatist, and historian. Through his writings he made the world aware of the Gulag, the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system — particularly The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, his two...
’s Gulag Archipelago.” The one volume of his writings to appear in English translation is
The Road to Democracy in Iran (MIT Press, April of 2008).
Arrest and imprisonment
Ganji took part in a
conference in BerlinThe "Iran After the Elections" Conference was a three-day social and cultural conference on reform in Iran organized by the Heinrich Böll Institute and held in Berlin on April 7 and 8, 2000...
held by the
Heinrich Boell Foundation under the title "Iran after the elections" held in the wake of the
MajlisThe Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran , also called The Iranian Parliament or People's House, is the national legislative body of Iran...
elections of February 2000 which resulted in a huge victory by reformist candidates. The gathering was termed "anti-
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
ic" and "anti-revolutionary" by Iranian state TV,
IRIBIslamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, or IRIB, , formerly called the National Iranian Radio and Television until the Islamic revolution of 1979, is a giant Iranian corporation in control of radio and television which is among the largest media organizations in Asia and Pacific...
, which broadcast part of the conference on 18 April 2000. Returning to Iran from the conference he was arrested on April 22 2000, accused of having "damaged national security." Found guilty, in January of 2001 he was sentenced to ten years followed by five years internal exile, which meant he would be kept in a specific city other than Tehran and could not leave the country. On 15 May 2001 an appeal court reduced his 10-year sentence to six months and overturned his additional sentence of five years' internal exile. However, the Tehran prosecutor, challenged the appeal court decision and brought new charges against him in connection with newspaper articles he had written prior to April 2000, and his possession of photocopies of foreign newspapers. On 16 July 2001 he was sentenced to six years imprisonment on charges of "collecting confidential information harmful to national security and spreading propaganda against the Islamic system".
Like other political prisoners before him, Ganji took to writing from his prison cell. His political manifestos and open letters were smuggled out of jail and published on the internet, - two letters "to the free people of the world": .
In his last year in prison Ganji went on a
hunger strikeA hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
for more than 80 days from 19 May 2005 until early August 2005 except for a 12-day period of leave he was granted on May 30 2005 ahead of the
ninth presidential electionsIran's ninth presidential election took place in two rounds, the first on June 17, 2005, the run-off on June 24. Mohammad Khatami, the previous President of Iran, stepped down on August 2, 2005, after serving his maximum two consecutive four-year terms according to the Islamic Republic's constitution...
on 17 June 2005. His hunger strike ended after 50 days when "doctors warned he would sustain irreparable
brain damageBrain damage, or acquired brain injury, is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells.-Causes:Brain damage may occur due to a wide range of conditions, illnesses, injuries, and as a result of iatrogenesis...
, and he relented." Many Iranians had not heard of the hunger strike due to press censorship and heavy security and information quarantine in
Milad HospitalMilad Hospital is the largest specialized and subspecialized hospital in Iran. This hospital is a complementary health service provider in Iran's Social Security organization chain of hospitals...
in Tehran. His hunger strike mobilized the international human rights community, "including eight former Nobel Peace laureates. Thousands of intellectuals and human rights activists around the world spoke out on his behalf. It is generally believed that the global support generated for Ganji during this period spared his life."
He was represented by a group of lawyers, including Dr. Yousef Molaei,
Abdolfattah SoltaniAbdolfattah Soltani is a well-known Iranian human rights lawyer, and spokesman for the Defenders of Human Rights Center, which was co-founded by the Nobel Peace Prize-winner Shirin Ebadi. He has twice been incarcerated in the Islamic Republic of Iran for political offences in 2005 and 2009...
(who was arrested and put in solitary confinement in 2005 on unknown charges), and the 2003
Nobel Peace PrizeThe Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:...
Laureate,
Shirin EbadiShirin Ebadi is an Iranian lawyer, human rights activist and founder of Centre for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran. On October 10, 2003, Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her significant and pioneering efforts for democracy and human rights, especially women's, children's, and...
.
In his recent leave in June 2005, Ganji participated in interviews with several news agencies, criticizing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the
Supreme Leader of IranThe post of Supreme Leader was created in the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran as the highest ranking political and religious authority of the nation, in accordance with the concept of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists...
, and asking for his office to be put to public vote
http://roozonline.com/08interview/007534.shtml. This led to a ruling by
Saeed MortazaviSaeed Mortazavi is a controversial Iranian jurist and former prosecutor of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, and Prosecutor General of Tehran, a position he has held from 2003 to 2009. He has been called as "butcher of the press" and "torturer of Tehran" by some observers...
, the general prosecutor of Tehran, to arrest him again because of "illegal interviews". He returned to prison voluntarily on June 11, 2005 and started another hunger strike.
Release
Ganji was released from prison in poor health on 18 March 2006, after serving the full term of his six-year sentence, according to his family and various count-downs set up on many Iranian weblogs. At the same time, the deputy prosecutor of Tehran, Mahmoud Salarkia, claimed that 10 days remained from his sentence due to unaccounted days of absence, and that he had been granted a leave for the Persian New Year. The claim has apparently been dropped since.
In June of 2006 Ganji left Iran. Since then he has been writing and giving talks in Europe and North America, speaking out for the movement for democracy in Iran, and against any U.S. military attack on his country.
Views
Ganji opposes the
theocracyTheocracy is a form of government in which a god or deity is recognized as the state's supreme civil ruler, or in a higher sense, a form of government in which a state is governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided. In Common Greek, “theocracy” means a...
of the Islamic Republic. He has been quoted as saying "Our revolution was an act for freedom, but we did not follow through properly. We ended up with tyranny and fascism."
Ganji's writings in prison were smuggled out and widely distributed, especially on the web. Most notably he wrote a
Republican Manifesto in six chapters in March 2002, laying out the basis of his proposal for a fully-fledged democratic republic for Iran. In particular he argued that all elections in the Islamic Republic of Iran must be
boycottA boycott is a form of consumer activism involving the act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons.-Etymology:...
ed. He later wrote a second book of his Republican Manifesto in May 2005, ahead of the ninth Presidential elections in Iran, specifically arguing for a complete boycott of the presidential elections.
In April 2008, Ganji's first book in
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
appeared from Boston Review Books/MIT Press:
The Road to Democracy in Iran, with an introduction by
Joshua CohenJoshua Cohen may refer to:*Joshua Lionel Cowen, born Cohen , American inventor*Yehoshua Cohen , Israeli assassin*Joshua Cohen , American philosopher*Joshua Cohen , American writer...
and
Abbas MilaniAbbas Milani is an Iranian-American historian, Iranologist, and author. Milani is a Visiting Professor of Political Science and the Director of the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University. He is also a Research Fellow and Co-Director of the Iran Democracy Project at the Hoover Institution...
.
Iraq war
Ganji opposes the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
2003 invasion of IraqThe 2003 invasion of Iraq, was led by the United States, backed by British forces and smaller contingents from Australia, Denmark, Poland and Spain. Four countries participated with troops during the initial invasion phase, which lasted from March 20 to May 1...
and subsequent occupation.
In 2006, Akbar Ganji started a tour to visit world leading philosophers, theorists,
human rightsHuman rights refer to the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the...
activists. His goal has been said to be introducing Iranian intellectual movements and democratic circles to world leading thinkers. He met many famous figures as
Richard RortyRichard McKay Rorty was an American philosopher. He had a long and diverse career in Philosophy, Humanities, and Literature departments...
,
Noam ChomskyAvram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, political activist, author, and lecturer. He is an Institute Professor and professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Chomsky is well known in the academic and scientific community as...
,
Anthony GiddensAnthony Giddens, Baron Giddens is a British sociologist who is renowned for his theory of structuration and his holistic view of modern societies. He is considered to be one of the most prominent modern contributors in the field of sociology, the author of at least 34 books, published in at least...
,
David HeldDavid Held is a British political theorist and a prominent figure within the field of international relations. Together with Daniele Archibugi, he has been a key figure in the development of cosmopolitanism, and of cosmopolitan democracy in particular...
and Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt.
Despite repeated invitations he refused to meet with any member of the administration of US president George W. Bush, on the principle that the struggle for democracy in Iran must be waged from within the country, without foreign governmental support. to meet with
White HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., it was built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the late Georgian style and has been the residence of every...
officials, citing his belief that current US policies were not helping promote democracy in Iran. He was quoted as saying, "You cannot bring democracy to a country by attacking it". He also added that the war in Iraq was promoting
Islamic fundamentalismIslamic fundamentalism Arabic: usul , is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the "fundamentals" of Islam: the Quran and the Sunnah.Definitions of the term vary...
and hurting movements towards democracy in the region.
Ganji declared that his role was as a dissident and journalist, rather than the official voice for a specific opposition party or faction within Iran, which he explained was one reason for his refusal to meet with US political leaders and officeholders.
During his visit he criticized the
Iraq warThe Iraq War, also known as the Occupation of Iraq or Operation Iraqi Freedom, is an ongoing military campaign which began on March 20, 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a multinational force led by troops from the United States and the United Kingdom.Prior to the war, the governments of the United...
, asserting that rather than undermining the current Iranian regime it had instead bolstered its capacity to repress and terrorize its population.
We do not want the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran. However, this is our problem. Any intervention by any foreign power would bring charges of conspiracy against us... What has happened in IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
did not support our movement in any significant way.
2009 election protests
Ganji has strongly supported the
2009 Iranian election protestsProtests following the 2009 Iranian presidential election against alleged electoral fraud and in support of opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, also nicknamed "Twitter Revolution" , occurred in Tehran and other major cities in Iran and around the world starting from June 13, 2009...
. He staged a hunger strike outside of the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
headquarters in order to highlight the plight of Iranian
political prisonerA political prisoner is someone held in prison or otherwise detained, perhaps under house arrest, for his or her involvement in political activity.-"Political" prisoner:...
s, and to bring international attention to the oppressive conditions felt within Iran.
Awards and honors
- PEN
PEN may refer to:* International PEN, the worldwide association of writers* Penang International Airport in Penang, Malaysia * Penarth railway station, Wales; National Rail station code PEN...
America, Honorary member (2000)
- Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression is a Canadian non-governmental organization supported by Canadian journalists and advocates of freedom of expression. The purpose of the organization is to defend the rights of journalists and contribute to the development of press freedom throughout the...
, International Press Freedom Award (2000)
- The Middle East Studies Association of North America, MESA Academic Freedom Prize (2005)
- Press Freedom Award, Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
(2005)
- World Association of Newspapers
The World Association of Newspapers is a non-profit, non-governmental organization made up of 76 national newspaper associations, 12 news agencies, 10 regional press organisations and individual newspaper executives in 100 countries....
, Golden Pen of Freedom (2006)
- Honorary citizen of the city of Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence...
, Italy (2006)
- Martin Ennals
Martin Ennals was a British human rights activist.Martin Ennals served as the third Secretary-General of Amnesty International, between 1968 and 1980....
Award for Human Rights Defenders (2006)
- National Press Club, John Aubuchon Freedom of the Press Award (2006)
Quotations
"You cannot bring democracy to a country by attacking it."
"Negotiation talks are the best way to solve anything. We must replace wars and weapons with negotiations and talks."
"When there is a crisis , the first thing that gets damaged and gets harmed is democracy."
"When you face dangers and crises, civil liberties go down and security measures go up."
"The modern infrastructures that exist in the world all contribute to the advancement of human rights and democracy in the world. ... if the U.S. wants to contribute to the advancement of democracy in the Middle East, it can do that. The most important thing that the U.S. government can do is to help to solve the Arab/Israeli problem in a just way, and that is to create a Palestinian government, and the peaceful coexistence of Jews and Muslims alike, next to each other. The other thing is the reduction of the huge gap between the North and the South."
"We should put away the militaristic outlook. The U.S. should start talking about disarmament, nuclear disarmament, of the region."
"To people who live in democracies, I tell them to appreciate what they have. Don't attack democracy. Attack the governments that take advantage of democracy and try to divert democracy. Where you see a government choose policies that help the growth of fundamentalism, fight those policies. Human rights abuses are important anywhere, in Iran, in the U.S., in Israel, in Russia. It doesn't matter. We need peace."
"One of the features of a fascist regime is that it completely suppresses all civil society and creates a society with one voice, but it's only one of the characteristics of a fascist society. It's a system where you need to have a widespread political party. Culture is completely reduced to advertisements and propaganda, education is reduced to propaganda, and many other features in economy and politics. When you suppress civil society you reduce people to small particles and they become dissolved in a solution in the society. They have no characteristics of themselves, of their own."
See also
- Defenders of Human Rights Center
The Defenders of Human Rights Center is Iran's leading human rights organization.-Organization:...
- History of political Islam in Iran
- Human rights in Islamic Republic of Iran
The state of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran has been criticized both by Iranians and international human right activists, writers, and NGOs...
- 2nd of Khordad Movement
- Saeed Hajjarian
Saeed Hajjarian is an Iranian intellectual, prominent journalist, pro-democracy activist and university lecturer. He has been an intelligence official, a member of Tehran's city council, and advisor to president Mohammad Khatami...
- Abdolkarim Soroush
Abdolkarim Soroush , born Hosein Haj Faraj Dabbagh , is an Iranian thinker, philosopher, reformer, Rumi scholar and a former professor at the University of Tehran. He is a well-known figure in religious intellectual movement in Iran. Professor Soroush is currently a visiting scholar at Georgetown...
- Abbas Amir-Entezam
Abbas Amir-Entezam was the spokesman and Deputy Prime Minister in the Interim Cabinet of Mehdi Bazargan in 1979. In 1981 he was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of spying for the U.S., a charge critics suggest was a cover for retaliation against his early opposition to theocratic...
- Mehrangiz Kar
Mehrangiz Kar is a prominent Iranian lawyer, human right activist and author.Mehrangiz Kar is one of the most celebrated activists in the history of women movement in Iran which dates back to almost two centuries ago....
External links
- Freedom is not free - Akbar Ganji’s website (under construction)
- CJFE Calls for Ganji's Release
- Ganji and other dissidents silenced ahead of elections, IFEX
The International Freedom of Expression Exchange , founded in 1992, is a global network of 81 non-governmental organisations that promotes and defends the right to freedom of expression....
- Ganji in hunger strike, Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, Toronto,...
: Leading Dissident’s Life in Danger.
- Iran: Radio Farda Interview With Dissident Akbar Ganji
- Second Letter written on the 30th day of hunger strike
- BBC profile
- Iran activist 'snubs White House' BBC article on Ganji declining a White House invitation
- Ganji's Next Strike Likely at U.N.
- The View from Tehran from May/June 2007 Boston Review
- Regime intelligence official admits to fabricating opposition figuresAugust 13, 2007
- The US and the Plight of the Iranians - A letter to Ban Ki-moon published in the NY Review of Books (Volume 54, Number 18)
- Conversations with History, Islam and Democracy
- Changing Iran: May 2008 Interview with Akbar Ganji (interviewed by Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow, Associate Editor of Boston Review Books)
- islam