Where’s the Coverage? Iranian Hunger Striker Freed
You’ve no doubt heard a lot about Khader Adnan, the Palestinian “baker” who is really a spokesman for and member of the terrorist group Islamic Jihad. He went on a hunger strike in protest of his military detention in Israel. Adnan will be released on April 17 unless “new additional substantial evidence” emerges against him. Today, a Google search for “Khader Adnan” turned up 2.1 million links. On Google news today, a search came up with 304 links.
Contrast the above with the case of Mehdi Khazali of Iran. Unlike Adnan, Mehdi Khazali is not a terrorist. He is a genuine human rights activist. An ophthalmologist by training, Khazali is an outspoken blogger and critic of the Iranian regime even though his father is a prominent hard-line Iranian Ayatollah. He was arrested on January 9 on charges that are unclear, beaten, his teeth shattered and his arm broken, according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. At that time, Khazali also began a hunger strike. According to his son, who saw him 49 days into the hunger strike:
When we saw him in the hospital, we couldn’t believe it was him. His weight loss was unbelievable; he was so thin. We are afraid something bad might happen to my father.
Yet, have you heard anything about Mehdi Khazali?
A Google search of “Mehdi Khazali” today turned up 48,300 links — less than one fortieth of the results for Khader Adnan. On Google news, we only found 31 links — a tenth of what was produced for Khader Adnan.
Furthermore, searching the New York Times website for Khader Adnan turned up 11 results in the Past 12 months. While a similar search for Mehdi Khazali produced zero results:
Your search – “Mehdi Khazali” – did not match any documents under Past 12 Months
Israel detains a known terrorist who goes on a hunger strike and it becomes a cause célèbre. Yet, when a legitimate human rights activist is arrested, beaten, and tortured by the Iranian regime and he goes on a hunger strike, the world is mum. Where’s the coverage? Where’s the fairness?
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