Golden Pen of Freedom award for imprisoned Iranian journalist

Mr Zeid-Abadi is known for an open letter he wrote from prison in
2000 protesting the judiciary's treatment of imprisoned journalists.
The letter was widely distributed despite attempts by authorities to
suppress its publication.



His work led Iranian authorities to imprison him again in August on
a six-year sentence, and to impose a lifetime ban on practicing his
profession as a journalist.



The Board of WAN-IFRA said: "All journalists
are aware of the dangers of challenging the autocratic regime of
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the actions of Iran's Supreme Leader,
Ali Khamenei. Mr Zeid-Abadi has chosen to repeatedly brave them and
publicly support reform and the rule of law in Iran. He was sentenced
to six years in prison, five years in internal exile in the town of
Gonabad and a lifetime writing ban in the wake of the disputed
presidential election in June. Mr Zeid-Abadi has refused to give in,
despite the horrific conditions in which he is being held, and his
courage makes us feel very humble. We hope Mr Zeid-Abadi's sentence
will be overturned."



Mr Zeid-Abadi is the second Iranian journalist to receive the prize in recent years, following Akbar Ganji in 2006.



Mr Zeid-Abadi, who has been in and out of prison since 2000, was
among dozens of Iranian journalists who were systematically rounded up
and detained following the disputed presidential election in June. He
was tried in August, along with more than 40 other journalists and 100
prominent supporters of the country's pro-reform movement, on charges
of plotting to overthrow the clerical theocracy with a "soft
revolution". He was sentenced to six years in prison. At least
twenty-six other journalists are still being held, with some facing
sentences ranging from five to nine years.



One week after his trial began, Mr Zeid-Abadi went on a hunger
strike to protest his detention, and was hospitalized for 17 days when
he was found unconscious in his cell.



Mr Zeid-Abadi, the former chief editor of the Azad newspaper, has
appeared in the Tehran-based daily Hamshahari, on the BBC Persian
service, and on the Persian/English news site Rooz. He is a member of
the Association of Iranian Journalists, and is the elected president of
one of Iran's largest student organisations, the Iranian Alumni
Association. He is also a professor of political science, and has
lectured at many academic institutions, including the Iranian Studies
Group at MIT in Tehran.



Mr Zeid-Abadi rose to prominence following his arrest in 2000, and
for his letter from prison in which he criticised the judiciary for
being "against and in opposition to the Koran's criteria and measures."



He was released on bail in March 2001, only to be imprisoned
against less than a year later, when he was sentenced to serve 23
months and banned for five years from "all public and social activity,
including journalism." Released in 2004, he found himself at odds once
again with the government during the presidential election of 2005,
when he published numerous articles calling for a boycott of the
national election.



In an interview following his imprisonment nearly a decade ago, Mr
Zeid-Abadi described conditions in the notorious Evin prison this way:
"The desperation they create in prison is so bad you think it's the end
of the world. The criminals use rape, especially with newcomers. And
when you're taken everywhere blindfolded and hear horrible, scary
screams, and you are put in a tiny cell, you have the feeling you will
never see normal life again."



The Golden Pen of Freedom is an annual award made by WAN-IFRA to
recognise the outstanding action, in writing and deed, of an
individual, a group or an institution in the cause of press freedom.



Past winners of the Golden Pen, awarded annually since 1961,
include Argentina's Jacobo Timerman (1980), South Africa's Anthony
Heard (1986), Vietnam's Doan Viet Hoat (1998), Zimbabwe's Geoffrey
Nyarota (2002), and China's Shi Tao (2007) and Li Changqing (2008). The
2009 laureate is Najam Sethi of Pakistan.



A full list of laureates can be found at http://www.wan-press.org/article4489.html