Iranian Alert - June 29, 2005 - U.S. Calls on Iran to Release Imprisoned Journalist Ganji

Regime Change Iran ^ | 6.29.2005 | DoctorZin

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Top News Story

29 June 2005

U.S. Calls on Iran To Release Imprisoned Journalist Akbar Ganji

Ganji has investigated abuses by Iranian security forces

The United States has called on Iranian authorities to release Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji from prison, where he is being held, the State Department said, for his political views and peaceful activities in support of free speech and journalistic integrity.  Ganji is known for his efforts to uncover information on extra-judicial killings by Iranian security forces.

In a June 29 statement, the State Department expressed particular concern about recent reports that Ganji is in failing health and is being denied access to his family and legal representation.  The statement called Ganji’s mistreatment “a serious violation of fundamental human rights.”

Following is the text of the State Department statement:

(begin text)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
June 29, 2005

STATEMENT BY SEAN MCCORMACK, SPOKESMAN

Imprisoned Iranian Journalist Akbar Ganji

The United States calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Akbar Ganji, an Iranian journalist and free speech advocate, who is currently imprisoned by Iranian authorities solely because of his political views and peaceful activities. We are increasingly concerned about Mr. Ganji's health and the conditions of his detention.

Mr. Ganji's courageous efforts to investigate extra-judicial killings by Iranian security forces and his commitment to free speech and democratic government have earned him the respect of many around the world. The United States is alarmed by recent reports that Mr. Ganji's health has been failing and that he has been denied access to family and legal representation.  His mistreatment in prison is a serious violation of fundamental human rights. Together with international human rights advocates and Mr. Ganji's many supporters in Iran, we call on the government of Iran to release Mr. Ganji and ensure that he receives all necessary medical assistance.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

A Daily Briefing of Major News Stories on Iran:

• ABC News Online reported that U.S. President George W Bush has announced that he is freezing the assets of North Korean, Iranian and Syrian entities.
• BBC Monitoring Service reported that Kahatmi has documents on the unethical moves by many in the election. He is giving them to the Supreme Leader.
• The Times UK reported that Russia and the United States appeared to be on a collision course over Iran.
• United Press International reported that Iran is expanding its oil, gas and petrochemical projects with American allies.
• Yahoo! News reported that one Iranian lawmaker believes he has uncovered the secret of her enmity -- that she was spurned by an Iranian boyfriend at college.
• Radio Free Europe reports that technocrats and reformists are squaring off against conservatives and labor over WTO membership.
• The Times UK reported on the controversial photo which claimed links the President-elect of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with the taking of 60 American hostages during the US embassy siege in Tehran in 1979.
• The Times UK reported that Iran's human face is gone. Hardline vote-riggers have spirited it away. A Must Read on the election fraud.
• Iranian dissidents gathered in Europe today to hold a conference on Iran's election with members of the EU parliament.
• WorldNetDaily.com reported that Dr. Corsi testified today before Israel's Knesset.
• Forbes reported that NASA and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have asked Congress to ease a law on Iran that would bar the US space agency from paying Russia for space services.
• Reuters reported that famous Iranian Student dissident Ahmad Batebi is missing.
• World Tribune reported on the Iranian election and argues Khamenei throws caution to the Wind. A Must Read.
• Middle East Newsline reported that Iran's new president has been identified as a suspect in a series of killings of Kurdish dissidents in Western Europe.

And finally, Photos:

• Iran's president Ahmadinejad: Ex-Hostage Taker. The photo that has caused all the controversy.
• Many more photos of Ahmandinejad with an American hostage.
• The Iranian newspaper Kayhan announced the winner of the Iranian presidential race One and 1/2 hours before the start time to tally the votes! Photo of the newspaper as proof.

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[nuconvert]

"Together with international human rights advocates and Mr. Ganji's many supporters in Iran, we call on the government of Iran to release Mr. Ganji and ensure that he receives all necessary medical assistance."

This was great to read!

[cake_crumb]

What unexpected leverage could the revelation that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was one of the 1979 hostage takers give? There SHOULD be SOME.

[F14 Pilot]

CNN was talking about the new Iranian president this morning!

[F14 Pilot]

There are strong beliefs that he will eventually get killed by the regime if he remains in custody!

[cake_crumb]

The regime is what needs euthanasia.

[F14 Pilot]

I dont believe that story! He is a radical idiot but he would have been proud of hostage taking stuff if he was one of them! He wouldn't try to hide it though!

And moreover, remember that source of that is MKO/NCRI terrorist organization which has no crediblity among Iranian people!

[cake_crumb]

I don't know whather to believe it or not, but this is what they're saying.

Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Jun. 28 – Hours after an aide to Iran's president-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a German-based Iranian satellite television channel that the new president has no intention of introducing an austere social and cultural policy, Ahmadinejad issued a statement through his office emphasising that only his own statements or those by his office represent his views.

“The official views of the president-elect are only pronounced by himself through this office”, said a statement by the office of the president-elect, carried by government-run news agencies in Tehran.

Remarks by a Mehdi Kalhor, an aide to Ahmadinejad, that there would not be a harsher attitude to female dress code, Persian pop music and satellite television were immediately condemned by the powerful clerics who were behind Ahmadinejad’s election, even though Kalhor’s comments were not reported by news organizations inside Iran.

"Everyone is free to have satellite (television)," Kalhor said.

Satellite television is banned in Islamic Iran and police crack down on dish owners, who are fined and have their receiving equipment confiscated. The authorities also try to jam the signals.

Iran Focus

London, United Kingdom, Jun. 29 - Iran Focus has learnt that the photograph of Iran’s newly-elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad holding the arm of a blindfolded American hostage on the premises of the United States embassy in Tehran was taken by an Associated Press photographer in November 1979.

Prior to the first round of the presidential elections on June 17, Iran Focus was the first news service to reveal Ahmadinejad’s role in the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

The identity of Ahmadinejad in the photograph was revealed to Iran Focus by a source in Tehran, whose identity could not be revealed for fear of persecution.

Soon after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, Ahmadinejad, who was studying in Tehran’s University of Science and Technology, became a member of the central council of the Office for Strengthening of Unity Between Universities and Theological Seminaries, the main pro-Khomeini student body.

The OSU played a central role in the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran in November 1979. Members of the OSU central council, who included Ahmadinejad as well as Ibrahim Asgharzadeh, Mohsen Mirdamadi, Mohsen Kadivar, Hashem Aghajari, and Abbas Abdi, were regularly received by Khomeini himself.

Former OSU officials involved in the takeover of the U.S. embassy said Ahmadinejad was in charge of security during the occupation, a key role that put him in direct contact with the nascent security organizations of the clerical regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, which he later joined.

After the 444-day occupation of the U.S. embassy, Ahmadinejad joined the special forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office, based in Evin Prison. The “Revolutionary Prosecutor” was Assadollah Lajevardi, who earned the nickname the Butcher of Evin after the execution of thousands of political dissidents in the 1980s.

Defectors from the clerical regime’s security forces have revealed that Ahmadinejad led the firing squads that carried out many of the executions. He personally fired coup de grace shots at the heads of prisoners after their execution and became known as “Tir Khalas Zan” (literally, the Terminator).

For a fuller account of Ahmadinejad’s life, go to the following story: Iran’s new President has a past mired in controversy

[F14 Pilot]

Iran Focus web site is mouthpiece of MKO/NCRI terrorist group and I don't give a damn to their propaganda!

I never believe what they say!

[cake_crumb]

We'll have to see what, if any, facts are unearthed. The DoD and State are looking into these allegations.

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