Eli Lake reports:

As three senators joined President Bush’s call for the Iranian regime to release dissident journalist Akbar Ganji from prison, the secretary-general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, yesterday refused to comment when pressed, claiming ignorance on the matter.
When asked by a New York Sun reporter if he would speak out on behalf of Mr. Ganji in light of the president’s statement Tuesday, Mr. Annan said, “I don’t know enough about the case, so I’d prefer not to comment.”
Iranian authorities initially arrested Mr. Ganji in 2000 for publishing a book and writing news stories charging his country’s political leaders with playing a role in the murder of dissident intellectuals in the late 1990s. Since June 11, when he was sent back to Evin prison after a brief release for medical treatment, Mr. Ganji has been on hunger strike, subsisting on a diet of sugar cubes and water.