Rafsanjani Asks For a Pardon For Akbar Ganji

By ELI LAKE, Staff Reporter of the Sun
July 29, 2005

WASHINGTON - A former president of Iran, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, yesterday said that he had asked the Justice Ministry to grant a pardon to jailed dissident journalist Akbar Ganji, who has been on a hunger strike since June 11.

The statement represents a surprising twist from Mr. Rafsanjani, who lost the Iranian presidency in a runoff election last month to hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Mr. Ganji was originally sentenced to prison time in 2001 after publishing a book and a series of articles that accused Mr. Rafsanjani and his associates of ordering a string of murders of dissident intellectuals in the late 1990s; Mr. Ganji was rearrested following a medical leave on June 11 for urging his countrymen to boycott last month's presidential election.

Meanwhile, the BBC reported yesterday that the home of Mr. Ganji's lawyer, Abdul Fatah Soltani, had been raided by the Tehran prosecutor's office, and the writer's wife said her husband is "fighting with death."

President Bush, a former Czech president and dissident, Vaclav Havel, and E.U. leaders have demanded Mr. Ganji's unconditional release.

Separately, a White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said yesterday that he believed Iran's incoming president, who is set to take office August 6, served as a leader of the student organization that seized America's embassy in Tehran in 1979, but that the White House had not yet determined if Mr. Ahmadinejad was directly involved in the siege and ensuing hostage crisis.

The White House also yesterday warned Iran not to resume the enrichment of uranium as envoys from Britain, France, and Germany prepared for negotiations with the Islamic Republic in Vienna on a nuclear enrichment program it kept largely hidden from the international community until 2003.

President Bush on June 30 said that the election of Mr. Ahmadinejad in a race Mr. Bush criticized for its lack of transparency "raised many questions" after six of the former American hostages came forward to identify him. One of the hostage takers, Abbas Abdi, who has recently criticized Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and is identified with the country's reformist movement, has said Mr. Ahmadinejad did not play a role in the crisis.

The Austrian government announced earlier this week that they would reopen an investigation into Mr. Ahmadinejad's possible connection to the murder in Vienna of a Kurdish dissident leader, Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou, and two associates on July 13, 1989. The Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran has long charged that Mr. Ahmadinejad was behind the assassination, which occurred while he was serving as the deputy commander of intelligence for the al-Quds force at the time.

Regarding Iran's nuclear program, Mr. McClellan said, "Iran made some commitments to suspend their uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities. We expect them to abide by that commitment." The outgoing Iranian president, Mohammed Khatemi, said this week that Iran would resume some enrichment activities. Iran also this week boasted of having developed solid rocket fuel for its Shahab missiles, which would allow them to reach as far as Greece or Egypt.

Mr. Ganji's worsening condition has turned international opinion against the regime in recent weeks. The political prisoner was rearrested on June 11 and brought to Evin Prison after he gave public interviews calling for a boycott of what he deemed a sham presidential election. He was moved to Tehran's Milad Hospital last Sunday, and supporters speculate that it was due to his weakened physical condition resulting from his 48-day hunger strike. The Iran Student News Agency quoted Mr. Rafsanjani as saying yesterday, "I presented some proposals and the problem will, God willing, be solved."

Despite the pleas for Mr. Ganji's release, the regime has continued a crackdown against its nonviolent opponents. The raid on Mr. Soltani's home occurred while the lawyer was not home, and his whereabouts are currently unknown. He also represents a slain Canadian journalist, Zahra Kazemi. Ms. Kazemi's family has said she was killed while in custody of the Iranian authorities after being arrested for photographing the families of political prisoners gathered outside of Evin Prison demanding the whereabouts of the incarcerated kin.

The English-language Web site yesterday said the raid of Mr. Soltani's home "was carried out on the orders of Tehran's Public Prosecutor Saed Mortazavi." Mr. Mortazavi, who ordered Mr. Ganji's arrest, is widely believed to be in line to become Iran's next justice minister.