IRAN: TOP CAMPAIGNER HARASSED

Emaddedin Baghi, Iran’s leading anti-death penalty campaigner, is back behind bars in the country’s notorious Evin prison after intense harassment leading to his hospitalisation and concern that he may have suffered a heart attack.
Three days after Christmas, Baghi, 48, was taken ill in his cell. Alarm was raised by a fellow-prisoner with whom he shared a cell in the high-security section of the prison. Baghi was immediately taken to the prison hospital. Later in the day he suffered a second serious reversal and concerned medical staff ordered his transfer to an outside civilian hospital for further tests and treatment. In this hospital Baghi was allowed visits by his family before being returned to jail. Baghi’s illness came after weeks of interrogation by Iran’s intelligence services following his arrest on Oct 14, according to his family in a Nov. 6 statement made to the Iranian Students News Agency after being allowed their first visit.