Declaration of the French MFA spokesman (April 28th, 2010)

Situation of Mr Emadeddin Baghi
Declaration of the French MFA spokesman (April 28th, 2010)
France express its deep concern about the situation of Mr Emadeddin Baghi, a famous lawyer and journalist, whom the French Republic distinguished in 2005 with its Human Rights prize. Mr Baghi was jailed several times and barred from leaving Iran to receive international awards. In 2008, Emadeddin Baghi was the winner of the “International Journalist of the Year” prize decerned by the British Press Awards and in 2009, he was the winner of the Martin Ennals award for Human Rights defenders. He is suffering from health problems, aggravated by his numerous periods in jail.
Today it has been four months since Mr Baghi was arrested, and France solemnly demands to the Iranian authorities that they free Mr Baghi in order to let him have a proper medical treatment.
This appeal for a personnality whom France distinguished for his exemplary action is a reflection of a larger concern caused by the continuous repression that Iranian authorities launch against Human Rights defenders and thousands of persons put in jail beacuse they expressed peacefully their political opinions. Let us remind that Emadeddine Baghi is a Human Rights defender, the president of the society for the defense of the rights of prisonners, and a militant against the death penalty, which he stood against notably in his book “A right to life”.
http://www.ambafrance-ir.org/article.php3?id_article=983