Ganji lies unconscious, reportedly near death

The New York Sun reports that Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji is near death in his hunger strike:

In a telephone interview from Tehran, a former political prisoner who was released temporarily from Evin prison at the end of June, Amir Abbas Fakhravar, told The New York Sun that Mr. Ganji's kidneys had failed and that he was seen yesterday by two fellow inmates in Evin's hospital wing laying unconscious on a floor as two guards tried to prop him up.

"I received word this afternoon from two inmates who saw Akbar Ganji in the prison hospital and was not moving at all. Two guards were trying to get him to walk, but he was unconscious, lying on the ground and not able to walk," Mr. Fakhravar said. "He is on the verge of dying."

Would it be too much to ask other major newspapers to cover this story? This might be melodramatic to say, but true nonetheless: a front page story in the New York Times or Washington Post could save this man's life and advance the cause of freedom in the Middle East a tiny but discernable bit.

Ah, but there are bigger fish to fry (see post later today).