UPDATE - IRAN
28 December 2007
Imprisoned journalist Emadoldin Baghi has heart attack; another jailed
journalist released temporarily for medical treatment
SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris
**Updates IFEX alert on Baghi case of 21 December and 24 and 17 October
2007; updates alerts on Ghavami (Qavami) case of 15 November, 12 July and
15 June 2007 and 24 August 2005, and others**
(RSF/IFEX) - RSF is extremely worried about the health of journalist and
human rights activist Emadoldin Baghi, who was rushed to hospital after
suffering a double heart attack in Tehran's Evin prison on 26 December 2007
and was returned to a general wing of the prison the following evening. He
has been held in Evin for 74 days.
"The conditions in which Baghi is being held are unacceptable," RSF said.
"He has been in solitary confinement ever since he was first taken to Evin,
as if imprisonment was not already enough punishment. As his state of
health has worsened steadily during the past two months, it is
inconceivable that he should be expected to convalesce in prison."
Baghi (http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=24004) was rushed to
Tehran's Khamar Bani Hachem hospital after his double heart attack. His
lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, and his family were finally able to visit him on 27
December after spending 24 hours without any news of him. When he was taken
back to Evin, he was put in a new cell in section 350 of the prison.
Nikbakht told RSF that the deterioration in Baghi's health was mainly due
to the appalling conditions in the prison and to the harassment to which he
has been subjected during interrogation sessions. "Emadoldin Baghi will not
survive another heart attack," he said.
An active campaigner against Iran's death penalty, Baghi was awarded the
French government's human rights prize in 2005. He was sentenced in 2000 to
three years in prison for "violating to national security."
Meanwhile, Ejlal Ghavami, a reporter for the weekly "Payam-e Mardom-e
Kurdestan" who has been held in the prison of Sanandaj since 9 July, was
finally given 10 days leave from the prison on 26 December for treatment to
an eye infection that has worsened since his arrest.
Iran's Supreme Guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad are both on the RSF list of "press freedom predators." Twelve
journalists are currently detained in Iran.
For further information contact Hajar Smouni, RSF, 47, rue Vivienne, 75002
Paris, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51, e-mail:
mideast@rsf.org, Internet: http://www.rsf.org
The information contained in this update is the sole responsibility of RSF.
In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit RSF.
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