March 7, 2005
Iran: Dissident Wins Award for Besieged Writers
Taqi Rahmani Imprisoned Without Charge for Expressing His Opinions
(New
York, March 7, 2005) -- The Iranian author Taqi Rahmani,
who has spent a total of 17 years in prison, was awarded a Hellman/Hammett
grant for persecuted writers, Human Rights Watch said today.
Each
year, Human Rights Watch awards Hellman/Hammett grants to writers
targeted for expressing views that the government opposes,
for criticizing government officials or actions or for writing
on topics that the government does not want reported.
For 17 years
of the quarter-century since the Iranian revolution, Taqi Rahmani
has been in prison. In his extensive writings on religious
modernism and the political history of Iran, the 45-year-old
author has criticized the relationship between religion and politics
in
Iran and its adverse effects on democratic development. He is
the author of 26 books and monographs. He has also worked for several
reformist newspapers and journals.
"Taqi Rahmani has spent more than a third of his life behind bars
just for expressing his opinions," said Joe Stork, Washington
director of Human Right Watch's Middle East Division. "His
experience is a harsh testimony to the plight of writers, dissidents
and other peaceful critics in Iran today."
Human Rights Watch
called on the Iranian government to release Rahmani immediately
and unconditionally.
In 1981, he was imprisoned
for three years because of his writings in Pishtaz, an underground
publication. He was imprisoned again
in 1986, and was sentenced to 11 years for his writings on religious
modernism and politics.
After his release in 1997, Rahmani resumed
writing and worked as a journalist with a number of reformist newspapers
that have since
been shut down. In March 2001, he was arrested yet again and spent
14 months in prison. On June 15, 2003, Taqi Rahmani and two of
his colleagues, Hoda Saber and Reza Alijani, were arrested on the
orders of Tehran's chief prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi. The
three dissidents have spent the last 22 months under arbitrary
detention without being charged.
The Hellman/Hammett program began
in 1990. Since then, more than 400 writers from 88 countries
have received grants. The grants
are awarded every spring after nominations have been reviewed
by a selection committee composed of authors, editors, and journalists
who have a longstanding interest in free expression issues.
For
more information, please contact:
In Washington D.C., Joe Stork:
+1-202-612-4327; +1-202-299-4925 (mobile)
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