Winds of Freedom are Blowing

Fire of Liberty
The New York Sun reported today that Akbar Ganji has begun to weaken as he enters the 53rd day of his ongoing hunger strike for the forces of democracy. While Ganji has demonstrated his overwhelming fortitude against the mullahs, the jailed dissident's wife has continued her call for various Western leaders to push the regime of Iran to release of her husband. Just look what the Sun reported:

Nonetheless, she said she is now very worried about his health and treatment. "They are trying to break him," she said. Ms. Shafieh went on to say that in a private conversation, the prosecutor that ordered his arrest, Saeed Mortazavi, threatened Mr. Ganji's life at the hospital, where Mr. Mortazavi sent special armed guards to watch Mr. Ganji 24 hours a day.

"Mr. Mortazavi told my husband, 'If you die it will better for the regime. We will put you in a remote place, and in a week or two we will give the number of your tombstone where your family will mourn for you, but they will not mourn for you publicly. They may not arrange a funeral or proper burial but privately I will let them mourn you,'" she said yesterday.

Throughout the interview, Ms. Shafieh said her phone was tapped and the reception faded in and out where faint clicks could be heard in the background. But despite the surveillance, Ms. Shafieh was open in her criticism of the regime.

Ms. Shafieh's plea for international solidarity has attracted in the last six weeks calls for his unconditional release from President Bush, Natan Sharansky, Vaclav Havel, MIT linguist Noam Chomsky, and Bishop Desmond Tutu. Even European Union leaders, whose colleagues are currently negotiating with the Iranian government over its nuclear program, have demanded that Mr. Ganji be freed.

If we're going to help the Iranian people achieve their goal of attaining democracy then pushing for the release of Ganji is a must. I really think that President Bush should find some time in the near future to have a large public ceremony where he calls for the immediate release of Ganji before he is done in due to his brave hunger strike. Time is not on his side.