Here’s an e-mail from one of the best Iranians in the Disapora. Secretary of State Rice keeps saying that democracy is coming to Iran, but this administration never says a word about all the innocent people in prison, never lifts a finger to help the Iranian opposition, and never really calls for regime change (although the President often sounds like he wants it, really).

The best person to write to on this matter is Elliot Abrams, who previously was in charge of “democracy and human rights” at the National Security Council (but was, and is, notably silent on Iran) and is now one of the top NSC officials on the region. It would be nice to hear him, and his cohorts, start speaking out in behalf of freedom in Iran, and the case of Akbar Ganji is as good a start as any.

So here’s the email:

Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji was has been arrested, tortured and held in solitary confinement since April 22,2000.
He is a prisoner of conscience. His charges are related to articles he wrote implicating senior Iranian political figures including Hojjatoleslam Rafsanjani in the 1998 murders of a number of intellectuals and writers, and statements he made at a conference on ”Iran after the elections” held in Berlin on April 7-9,200. The conference had received enormous publicity within Iran, and religious figures accused some of those who attended of apostasy, or turning away from Islam.
Mr. Ganji by completing his fifth year in Evin prison has become the longest imprisoned journalist in Iran during which he has been denied his most basic human rights such as adequate medical care, visitations, and phone call privileges. He is suffering from asthma, chronic bronchitis, and recurrent pneumonia. Since May 19th he has been on an unlimited hunger strike and has been loosing 1 to 1.5 kilograms of his body weight per day. He is being specially tormented to revenge exposing Hojjatoleslam Rafsanjani’s criminal activities.
The world has been ignoring human rights violations in Iran for too long. Mr. Ganji is only one of thousands of political prisoners in the horrific Iranian donjons. Ganji is one of the well-known prisoners of conscience in Iran; where as there are thousand of unknown dissidents who are kept in worse conditions tortured and killed on daily basis. These prisoners have families and friends who are fed up with the western world’s silence on the human rights issue in Iran. Turning the blind eye on these criminal acts will only buy you hatred and will amplify their fury. The EU big 3 (England, France, and Germany) blatant disregard in this matter has created an intense animosity towards them in Iranians. President Bush has recognized this factor in the Middle East and has initiated the democratization policy.
Fortunately the ordinary Iranian citizens are peace loving people and unlike the theocratic Iranian government have not engaged in terrorist acts. The current mood in Iran is similar to volcano ready to explode. If and when this volcano explodes, then the lava will burn the EU interests and subjects.
I urge you to take the Iranian people’s side before it is too late! The Iranian Mullahs must be forced to free all political prisoners.