Akbar Ganji was chosen as the " Hero of The World Press Freedom" and on September 13 he received the award in a ceremony in the City Hall in Viena !

Excerpt from Akbar Ganji's speech:

I would like to thank IPI for electing me as one of the recipients of World Press Freedom Hero Award. But I would also like to announce that this award belongs to all those who are now suffering under inhuman conditions in the prisons of the Islamic republic of Iran. Their only sin is their peaceful political thoughts and actions. We are dealing with a regime that does not recognize freedom of thoughts, freedom of expression, or freedom of peaceful gathering and denies its own citizens their constitutional rights. Those journalists who publish the truth in this regime will end up seeing their papers shut down, losing their jobs, and ending up spending long terms in prison. At the moment there are 26 journalists and 8 bloggers in prison in Iran--among them Ahmad Zeydabadi, Isa Saharkhiz, Ma'ud Bastani, Hengameh Shahidi, Bahman Amu'i, Kivan Samimi, Adnan Hasanpour, Hoda Saberi, Abdolreza Tajik, Sa'id Matinpour (journalists), and Mojtaba Lotfi and Ali Behzadnia (bloggers).This award is a sign of moral support for all imprisoned journalists and for that reason is of particular significance for me. Once again, thank you! The illegitimate regime that rules over Iran has spared and does no spare none of the social strata or social components from its systematic repression. A tyrannical and absolutist Sultan intervenes in all aspects of government and directly issues the orders to oppress the people. The people in position of responsibility in this regime will have to be tried and condemned in the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. The democratic movement in Iran is directed towards a democratic system, that is pluralist, secular, and committed to human rights and that under no circumstances allows the pushing the rights of racialized, religious, and sexual minorities into the dark dungeons of prejudice and inequality. The freedom of women is one of the principal components of this democratic movement. Women are today at the heart of this civil rights movement in Iran.