IWAC – Arash Ganji, author, translator, and the former secretary of Iran Writers Association; born in 1987, in Tehran; since late 2000’s, he professionally started his career as a translator; as a translator, he has also published a good deal of works since then; however, on Dec. 22, 2019, he was violently arrested at his own place by the security forces who initially introduced themselves as postmen then attempted an under-cover arrest and transferred him to Evin Prison, ward 209; he had to spend 29 days in this illegal detention and finally be released on bail. On May, 2020, he was summoned to take presence at the Revolutionary Court, held under the arbitration of the extremely notorious judge, Moghayyesseh, where he was charged with certain accusatory titles as “collusion and conspiracy against national security,” “propaganda against the regime” and “membership in and collaboration with a dissident group working against the regime;” afterwards, his bail was elevated to an all-time high and unprecedented sum, over which he had to return to prison until the deposit-bail was sufficiently met. In the same year, and under the arbitration of Judge Amouzadeh, he was sentenced to 11 years of imprisonment and, after the appeal, the court reaffirmed his sentence verbatim. His lawyer, Nasser Zarafshan, himself a prominent member in Iranian Writers Association, and former political prisoner, summed up his client’s case in this fashion: “all these charges merely root back to a case of translation of a book called “The Small Key to The Big Gate” about the post Arab Spring developments in Syria’s Kurdish region. In all actuality, he was simply sentenced so horrendously for just having translated a book; in reaction to this baseless and unjust sentence, the Australian and American divisions of Pen Association, along with Iranian Writer Association, published separate statements, expressing their official and public protest to this sentence; “issuing such a heavy sentence, with the charge of translating a book by Arash Ganji, is utterly meaningless and a clear violation of the most of basic rights of freedom of speech. The cruel punishment of the authors and political activists for having expressed their pacifying thoughts and equating critical comments with security-level crimes is an increasingly intensified trend in Iran,” American division of Pen stated; in a separate statement, Iranian Writers Association, regarded his sentence to be a “state-run case-fabrication and the fundamental violation of freedom of speech;” following this chain of protesting reactions, on Jan. 20, 2021, the figures in collaboration and in preparation of holding the International Women’s Day Conference in Germany, published an open letter to Germany’s federal minister of foreign affairs of the time, Heiko Mass, in which they required him to take action to reverse the prison sentence of Arash Ganji, in addition to all procedural stages of his legal persecution, as follows: “We, undersigning this appeal, turn to you on an urgent matter. We ask you, in your capacity as Germany’s Foreign Minister, to contact the Iranian government and ask for withdrawal of the verdict and quashing of all proceedings against to employ Mr. Arash Ganji. Arash Ganji, translator, member and secretary of the Iranian Writers’ Association, was sentenced to 11 years in prison on December 30, 2020. According to information from the HRANA news agency, he was due “conspiracy and collusion against national security”, to 5 years, due “membership and cooperation with an opposition group” to 5 years and Propaganda against the system” sentenced to one year, a total of eleven years in prison. The verdict was handed down by Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, chaired by Judge Mohammad Reza Amouzad. According to his lawyer, Nasser Zarafshan, all of these allegations came about as a result of the translation of a book about developments in Syrian Kurdistan (“The Small Key to the Big Gate”): As informed by the Iranian Writers’ Union, on the morning of December 22, 2019, Arash Ganji was arrested by security forces at his home and taken to the Intelligence Ministry’s Detention Center, Division 209, Evin Prison. Officers searched his home and confiscated some of his personal belongings and documents. He was released on posting bail. On December 30, 2020 was sentenced to 11 years in prison. As already mentioned, Arash Ganji is a translator; he has also translated various books published in Germany. Among other things, “Disaster Alert – what to do against the wanton destruction of the unity of people and nature”. Arash Ganji was banned from writing and the books he translated are banned in Iran. The three board members of the Iranian Writers’ Union, Reza Khandan Mahabadi, Bektash Abtin [who later, on Nov. 2022, fell victim to state-murder by the deliberate denial of the prison authorities and security forces of any proper medical care despite having contracted coronavirus in prison and while serving this sentence] and Kaywan Bage have been in prison since September 2020. Reza Khandan Mahabadi has a serious heart condition but has been denied hospitalization. Our appeal is: Reversal of this sentence and dismissal of all cases against Arash Ganji, as well as release of three board members of the Iranian Writers’ Union.” In any case, this imprisoned author and translator was arrested on Nov. 2021, after attending the Unit of the Execution of Sentences at Evin Prison and got transferred to the prison, yet before taking entrance to serve his sentence, he recorded and published a video on social media with the following message: “Dear comrades, while on the verge of entering prison, I am not certain whether I should have a sense of tragedy or comedy. Early in the morning, I was informed that it is Nov. 1st; the international Kobani Day; the day of the definitive defeat of ISIS. I feel a sense of comedy, since on the anniversary of such a great victory, I am sent off to prison and also feel a sense of tragedy, since, while being overwhelmed by joy at my humble heart, I shall commence serving my sentence in prison. Be certain though that, today, my heart is set more strongly than ever before and I am going to throw my own feast in my own heart. I fully appreciate all my comrades, especially the ones I hold more dearly than my own life in Iran Writers Association who have gathered here to bid farewell to me. The unsparing support of my Writers Association comrades all along and the international solidarity of authors was a source of encouragement for me and my family and reminded me that I was never alone. Hail to Writers Association. All the cloves in this world, be dedicated to you.” Having also suffered from heart condition, and, according to his friends and family members, any anxiety or extra pressure could result in a serious damage to his health, amounting to irreversible health failure, was essentially free of any reason whatsoever to spend time in prison. The crime attributed to him and its following sentence, even with regard to the penal criteria of the ruling system itself, is utterly absurd and baseless: sheer translation of a book! This is while the regime has frequently claimed no author or journalist has ever been imprisoned for exercising the right to freedom of expression or thought. Yet, the question of the detention and sentencing of this author itself is a very clear example of the violation of the most basic rights in the areas of freedom of expression, civil rights, and freedom of authorship and thought. Having merely translated a book written elsewhere, he has carried out the most basically given responsibility one can find in the area of authorship, and yet had to endure imprisonment in highly unfitting conditions since then, until he was eventually released from Rajayi’Shahr Prison, in Karaj, on Feb. 11, 2023 and along with Reza Khandan Mahabadi, another member of Iranian Writers Association. To this date, Feb. 19, 2023, from among the other members of the same association, Ali Asadollahi and Keyvan Mohtadi are kept in illegal detention, not to mention other members of it arrested and released during Iran’s current mass protests; according to human right news agencies, the reason causing the early release of Arash Ganji from prison, that is, before the completion of his sentence, must have been related to the so-called “public pardon” recently initiated by the issuance of a judiciary circular letter for the conditional release of the arrested protestors of Zhina (Mahsa Amini) Movement along with a number of previously serving-sentence political detainees; it is worth mentioning that, according to sources’ announcing on social media and closely affiliated with Ali Assadollahi, a member and secretary of Writers Association, he is still kept in detention at Fashafooyeh Prison without any clear legal proceedings due to having rejected the mandatory conditions entailed in the public pardon, including the demand from the political prisoner to express regret over his or her past activities and fulfillment of a promise not to reiterate such activities after having been included in the pardon. Finally, among other writers independent of Iranian Writers Association, Mehdi Bahman, who was sentenced to execution at district court, is still in detention in squalid conditions and at the same prison.
