Iranian Dissident Wins Award for Persecuted Writers
Human Rights Watch announced that the Iranian writer Taqi Rahmani is the recipient of its annual Hellman/Hammett Award, which recognizes writers who are targeted by their governments. Rahmani has been in and out of prison for 17 years for criticizing the religious politics of the country, and for pointing out how fundamentalism has impeded democracy there. His writings for various reformist newspapers have resulted in his imprisonment and in the closing of the papers. Rahmani, the author of 26 books, has spent the last 22 months in prison without being charged. The Hellman/Hammett awards were inaugurated in 1990 and designed to bring attention to the struggles of writers throughout the world to engage in free expression. More than 400 writers in 88 countries have received these grants.