Iran’s Nobel laureate highlights plight of political prisoners

Iran Focus: London, Jul. 31 – Iran’s Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi wrote in an article that the international community should not ignore the plight of other political prisoners in Iran as well as focusing on the case of jailed journalist Akbar Ganji, a Persian-language website reported on Sunday. Ebadi said that while the case of Akbar Ganji was “a regretful example of the harsh situation of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Iran that has gained attention in recent weeks”, other political prisoners must not be forgotten. Iran Focus

London, Jul. 31 – Iran’s Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi wrote in an article that the international community should not ignore the plight of other political prisoners in Iran as well as focusing on the case of jailed journalist Akbar Ganji, a Persian-language website reported on Sunday.

Ebadi said that while the case of Akbar Ganji was “a regretful example of the harsh situation of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Iran that has gained attention in recent weeks”, other political prisoners must not be forgotten.

She cautioned human rights activists that they must not “forget other political prisoners and prisoners of conscience who are not as famous as Ganji”.

“Forgotten prisoners are those who are spending hard days in prisons such as Evin, Rajai-Shahr, and other prisons in towns near and far”, the human rights lawyer added.

Such prisons are full of problems and humanitarian issues, Ebadi said, adding, “In the recent report by the head of Tehran’s Judiciary to the head of the Judiciary about the state of prisoners, only a very small section of the realities are mentioned”.

The Nobel laureate said that she was speaking of prisons in which political prisoners are locked up in solitary confinement for long periods, not allowed to meet their lawyers, and treated inhumanely.

“We should work together for the freedom of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience. To have their minimum human rights respected, they need to not be forgotten, something that has occurred to most of them” Ebadi said.