Free Akbar Ganji

Who is Akbar Ganji? Ganji is perhaps Iran's bravest opponent of Iran's totalitarian regime. If you haven't heard of Ganji before, it's not surprising. There has been very little media attention paid towards Ganji's imprisonment for speaking and writing in opposition to the Iranian regime and Ganji's subsequent hunger strike. Max Boot writes about what the entire world should know about Ganji and Iran.

Nothing better typifies the barbarism of the mullahs than their mistreatment of Akbar Ganji. A onetime enthusiast for the 1979 Islamic revolution, Ganji became disenchanted. He wrote books and articles documenting how top-level officials ordered the murder of writers and dissidents. He openly compared the Islamic Republic's ideology to that of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

From prison, Ganji has continued issuing statements calling on the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to leave office. He also urged Iranians to boycott the sham elections held in June that brought an Islamo-fascist, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to power as president. Ganji has concluded that there is no way to change this "sultanate" from within; he advocates civil disobedience to bring about secular democracy.

"I will not stand the master-slave relationship, the kind of relationship in which the Leader ascends to the ranks of a god and people descend to the level of slaves," Ganji wrote from prison in a "Letter to the Free World" (posted online at www.freeganji.blogspot.com).

President Bush should mention Ganji's name everytime the subject of Iran and nuclear weapons is discussed. President Bush and his administration should try to make Akbar Ganji a household name. It is brave people like Ganji who just might be able to prevent the nuclear destruction that could result if Iran obtains such weapons.