Iranian of the Day

CPJ and rahana: Nearly a year after Shojaei was first jailed on October 28, 20101, a special clerical court sentenced the blogger and cleric to four years in prison, defrocking, and 50 lashes on October 2, 2011, on multiple charges of “acting against national security,” “espionage,” and “cooperation with foreign embassies,” the reformist news outlet Radio Zamaneh reported.

Shojaei was author of the book, Madar-e-Shari’at, about the dissident cleric, Ayatollah Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari, according to Radio Zamaneh. Shariatmadari had opposed the principle of velayat-e faqih, which seeks to convey unlimited power to the supreme leader.

Shojaei, 30, is being held at Evin Prison, where he endured torture and several months of solitary confinement, according to the news website Human Rights House of Iran and Radio Zamaneh. He is suffering from the effects of epilepsy, Radio Zamaneh said. Shojaei was allowed medical furlough on November 23, 2011, but was not allowed to complete his medical treatment and was returned to prison on January 9.

Update: According to Human Rights House of Iran, unable to extend his medical furlough, the prisoner returned to Evin Prison last week, and immediately embarked on a hunger strike to protest the prison authorities' lack of regard for his ailing health. Honarvar Shojaee, 30, suffers from many different ailments such as a heart condition, ulcers, and epilepsy. He is currently inside the Clerics Ward at Evin Prison. He is now on the ninth day of his hunger strike.