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Akbar Ganji (Iran)

 

John Humphrey Freedom Award 2007

Iranian writer and dissident Akbar Ganji wins Rights & Democracy's 2007 John Humphrey Freedom Award

فارسی

Akbar Ganji December 2007 - On December 4th, journalist and dissident Akbar Ganji received the John Humphrey Freedom Award at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, in Gatineau, Québec. In his acceptance speech, Mr. Ganji delivered a dynamic testimony in favour of human rights and democracy, and called upon Canada not to engage in a military attack on Iran.  He also encouraged the international community to put pressure on repressive states to respect human rights and to make the transition towards democracy. The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour paid tribute to Mr. Ganji on this occasion. The award ceremony and the tour, which took Mr. Ganji to Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Montréal, Québec City, and Ottawa, from 19 November to 4 December 2007 provided many touching moments, stimulating exchanges, cooperative links and a resurgence of solidarity.  A few hundred people in each of the cities he visited came to meet with Mr. Ganji to exchange on topics such as the human rights situation in Iran, freedom of expression and a potential military attack on Iran. 

John Humphrey Freedom Award Ceremony and Related Activities:


Canadian Tour

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Featured Press Release:

August 2, 2007
Iranian writer and dissident Akbar Ganji wins Rights & Democracy's 2007 John Humphrey Freedom Award


John Humphrey Freedom Award:


Akbar Ganji's Website:

http://www.akbarganji.org/

 Iran: an Overview

Flag of Iran Map of Iran
Statistical Snapshots
Population: 71,200,000 (2007)
Life Expectancy: 71 years (2005)
Regime: Islamic Republic
Last Elections:

Presidential elections: June 17 and 24, 2005. The ultra-conservative mayor of Tehran and former member of the Pasdaran Guards (Revolutionary Guards), Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was elected president. Over 1000 candidates were disqualified by the Council of Guardians.

Legislative elections: February 20 and May 7, 2004, characterized by the prior invalidation of several thousands of candidacies (including those of over one-quarter of sitting parliamentarians) by the Council of Guardians. The next legislative elections will be held in March 2008.

Legal Voting Age: 15

Year Women Received Right to Vote: 1963
Year Women Received Right to Stand for Election: 1963
Seats in Parliament Held by Women (% of total): 4.1%
Internet Users (per 1000 people in 1990/2003): 0 / 82
Freedom of Press Indicator (ranking among 168 countries): 162
Gross National Income Per Capita : (US$, 2005) 2770
Human Poverty Index (out of 102 countries): 35
Human Development Index (out of 177 countries): 96 (medium), upward trend
Gender-related Development Index (out of 177 countries): 74

Death Penalty: Iran is the world’s second worst offender after China with 177 executions in 2006.

 

Political and Historical Context

For over 2,500 years, Iran (known as Persia until 1935) has been governed by an absolute monarchy. A modern system of government emerged in Iran after the 1905-1911 Constitutional Revolution. Since then, the country has had two constitutions. The first in 1906 was amended four times (1925, 1949, 1957 and 1967) and established a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament divided into two chambers (National Assembly and Senate). From 1925 to 1978, under the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty, Iranian law was modernized and a series of codes (civil, criminal, commercial and family) were developed based on the Western model of rights (particularly the Napoleonic Code). The second constitution was adopted in December 1979, following the Islamic Revolution, which brought an end to the Pahlavi reign. The new Constitution, amended in July 1989, introduced an Islamic Republic and suspended the application of laws that did not conform to religious principles. Its fourth principle subordinates all civil, criminal, financial, economic, cultural, political or military legislation to religious principles defined by the clergy. Its twelfth principle defines Islam as a State religion, while according certain religious freedoms to minorities.

Iran’s Institutional System

The Iranian institutional framework, as it functions today, is complex and unique in its combination of two authorities. The first is a democratic and political authority, elected by universal suffrage (through general elections to choose the President of the Republic, the Parliament, and city and village councils) and the second is a theocratic (religious) authority, embodied above all by the Supreme Leader of the Revolution who can overrule all of the political, judicial, military and media institutions as well as a series of institutional supervisory structures, such as the Council of Guardians of the Constitution, the Expediency Discernment Council of the System and the Assembly of Experts, and parallel State structures, unique to this regime. Lastly, while the Constitution grants the judiciary a high degree of independence in relation to other authorities (executive and legislative), in practice it is controlled by the Head of State. The Supreme Leader appoints and dismisses the head of the judiciary, who in turn appoints the chief public prosecutor and the head of the Supreme Court. All of the judges are trained in Islamic law, and members of the clergy control most of the courts.

Political Life in Iran

Islamist factions have a hold on political life, shutting out other political parties. There are two dominant poles among Islamists: the conservatives, who hold executive power and are the guardians of the revolution, and the reformists, who are more flexible and open in their political approach. Both of these political forces wish to maintain the current system, but do not agree on the methods to achieve this. The conservatives reject change and are committed to a State led by the clergy responsible for establishing policy, monitoring morality and ensuring the supremacy of Islamic doctrine in all aspects of life in Iran. The reformists—driven by a majority youth population thirsty for greater openness to the world, and the growing desire of Iranians to live in a more economically and politically open society—are in favour of greater political freedom and the emergence of a less dogmatic society where religion does not control political power. Since the last legislative elections in 2004, the conservatives have been in control of the Iranian parliament.

Popular Resistance

Since the end of the 1990s, Iran has seen large-scale protests involving tens of thousands of students on university campuses and in the streets of major cities, disrupting the social climate and relations between youth and the regime. Tired of waiting for reforms that were promised but never materialized under the presidency of Mohammed Khatami, Iran’s youth population, which has nearly doubled in the last 20 years (two-thirds of Iranian citizens are under 30) seemed to have definitively turned their backs on the absolutism of the Supreme Leader, the monolithism of the clerics running the State and Islamic morality. Young Iranians, and the general population, impassioned by change, are demanding a secular, democratic and transparent government. To contain this growing protest, the mullahs have resorted to censoring reformist newspapers and to repression (arbitrary arrests and detentions, killing demonstrators and prohibiting reenrollment at universities) by security forces and religious militias to ensure respect for 'Islamic order' and the regime’s interests.

 
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