2. PEN Canada in association with Rights & Democracy Present:

Discussion with Akbar Ganji of Iran and Anna Maria Tremonti, host of CBC Radio’s The Current

“Freedom of Expression and Association in Iran: A Struggle for Democracy”

Monday, November 26, 2007
6:00pm - 7:30pm
George Ignatieff Theatre
Trinity College, 15 Devonshire Place
(1 block east of St. George St, south of Bloor Street)
FREE ADMISSION

In collaboration with The Munk Centre for International Studies

Akbar Ganji is the recipient of the 2007 John Humphrey Freedom Award presented by Rights and Democracy.

Ganji is an emblematic figure of dissent in Iran. Well-known journalist and author, Akbar Ganji spent six years in prison for exposing rights abuses committed by Iran’s fundamentalist regime. The charges stemmed from a series of investigative articles exposing the complicity of then President Rafsanjani and other leading members of the conservative clergy in the murders of political dissidents and intellectuals in 1998. During his time in prison, Mr. Ganji endured solitary confinement and went on a hunger strike that lasted from May to August 2005. He also continued to write, producing a series of influential political manifestos and open letters calling for Iran’s secularization and the establishment of democracy through mass civil disobedience. The works were smuggled out of Evin prison and published on the Internet. Mr. Ganji’s work has appeared in pro-democracy newspapers across Iran, most of which the government has since shut down. He has also written many books, including the bestselling The Dungeon of Ghosts (1999) and The Red Eminence and The Grey Eminence (2000).