Free Journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi

Ahmad Zeidabadi is an Iranian journalist and political analyst who was imprisoned following Iran's disputed presidential election in June 2009. He was tortured and beaten violently in prison in order to give forced confessions. He was held in solitary confinement for 35 days after his arrest in a coffin-like cell only 1.5m long.

Mr. Zeidabadi 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" and was harshly sentenced to six years in prison,5 years in exile and a lifetime ban on practicing his profession as a journalist. One week after his trial began, Mr. Zeidabadi went on a hunger strike to protest his detention, and was hospitalized for 17 days when he was found unconscious in his cell.

Mr. Zeidabadi is currently serving time under very difficult conditions among dangerous common criminals at Rajaee Shahr Prison in Karaj, which lacks prisoner classification. According to his wife, prison visits are very difficult and their three children have to spend hours to visit their father through a booth for 15 minutes and get the opportunity to do so once every 3 or 4 months.