Iran’s Peculiar Election: The Voice of Akbar Ganji

Issue Date October 2005
Volume 16
Issue 4
Page Numbers 35-37
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Akbar Ganji has come to represent the democratic movement in Iran, not simply because of his enormous courage or the originality of his views, but because he has revealed the “true face of the system in the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Alhough he has been in prison since the year 2000 and has been gravely weakened by illness and a two-month-long hunger strike in the summer of 2005, he still stands out as the strongest figure in today’s Iran.

About the Author

Azar Nafisi, who taught at the University of Tehran, the Free Islamic University, and Allameh Tabatabaii University before coming to the United States in 1997, is the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003). She is a visiting fellow and professorial lecturer at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

View all work by Azar Nafisi

Further Reading

Volume 18, Issue 4

Iran’s Resilient Civil Society: The Untold Story of the Fight for Human Rights

Observers who focus too much on elections have failed to grasp the maturation of Iranian civil society, even as hard-liners have come to dominate the government.

Volume 11, Issue 4

Is Iran Democratizing? Voices From Within: Excerpts from the Iranian Press

Four excerpts from the Iranian press-on elections and democracy and on religious intolerance and intellectual pluralism-suggest the extent to which democratic thinking has gained a foothold in Iran.

Volume 28, Issue 4

Iran’s 2017 Election: The Opposition Inches Forward

Despite all its flaws, Iran’s May 2017 presidential balloting amounted to another small but genuine advance for the cause of democracy.