Jailed Iranian Journalist Receives WAN-IFRA ?Golden Pen of Freedom?

An Iranian journalist who was imprisoned following Iran's disputed presidential election last year has been awarded the 2010 Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom prize of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).

Ahmad Zeid-Abadi, who is serving a six-year prison sentence, was honored during a ceremony at the opening of the World Editors Forum in Hamburg, Germany. WAN-IFRA cited “his courageous actions in the face of persecution and for his outstanding contribution to the defense and promotion of press freedom."

Zeid-Abadi was among at least 110 journalists arrested following the disputed re-election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2009. At least 23 remain behind bars, WAN-IFRA said. Iran is the jailer of about a fifth of all journalists imprisoned worldwide.

"Though we honor Mr Zeid-Abadi here today, it is also important to remember the other jailed journalists, the ones who don't win awards but nevertheless suffer under despotic regimes," said Xavier Vidal-Folch, president of the World Editors Forum, who presented the award. "We should never forget them and we in the international newspaper community should do our utmost to win their release."

The award was accepted on behalf of Zeid-Abadi by Akbar Ganji, the 2006 Golden Pen laureate who had also been imprisoned by the Iranian regime. "Iran today is under the occupation of a band of deceitful liars," Ganji said, at times breaking into tears during the ceremony. "The occupying regime of the clerics has targeted the moral foundation of the society and is determined to portray moral vices as virtues. 

Ahmad Zeid-Abadi is the former chief editor of the Azad newspaper and a contributor to the Tehran-based daily Hamshahari and the BBC Persian service. He was tried in August 2009, 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, five years in internal exile and a lifetime writing ban.