Tehran, 11 Nov. (AKI) - Massoumeh Shafii, the wife of jailed Iranian journalist, Akbar Ganji, cries continuously.   Her husband, a well-known writer and dissident, has been in jail for more than five yeards.

But for the past 25 days, Shafii has not seen her husband, who has been in solitary confinement in a section that is not under the control of the Evin prison, but instead directly under the control of Iran's intelligence ministry.

"One must doubt the humanity of anyone who remains silent in front of what is happening to Ganji," said Shafii in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI).

"The last time that together with our lawyer Youssef Molaie I saw Akbar, he weighed only 51 kilos which is three kilos less than he was when he ended his 70-day hunger strike," said Shafii.

"Akbar told us that in isolation they do not give him something to eat each day, just a few times a week, and the last time they gave him three thermos flasks of hot water for dinner," she added.

Shafii admitted that she and her three children were living a nightmare, convinced that the Iranian authorities want to make him die in his cell.

In the past few days, the director of the Evin prison, Sohrab Soleymani, said that Ganji was well and had "no particular problems", while his wife insists that she does not "understand what this man means by 'particular problems'".

"Akbar Ganji has been physically abused regularly, has a broken shoulder and has not been treated, he does not receive food or medicine, not even that which has been prescribed by the doctor for asthma, is kept in solitary confinement, cannot see his wife or children, what else must happen to my husband, do they want to kill him?" Shafii asked.

Commenting on the appeal made by US president George W. Bush, British prime minister Tony Blair and United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan to liberate Ganji, the spokesperson of the foreign ministry in Tehran, Hamid Reza Asefi, said: "We will not allow interference in the internal affairs of Iran."

To this end, Massoumeh Shafii recalls that "before our appeals to the world, we turned to all the authorities in Iran, we denounced the truth and lies of the head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Mohammad Shahroudi.

We turned to political leaders, to the press, but we found only closed doors and double turns and everyone told us that the key was the supreme leader, [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] who has never said even one word in favour of my husband."

"Today myself, my two children and for Akbar's ageing mother, have no other alternative but to appeal to the world, to Europe, to Italy, so that they will do something before it is too late," said Massoumeh Shafii in tears.

"We appeal to your humanity, to your sensitivity, do something to prevent a brave man, who has done nothing but express his opinion, from dying in the solitude of an isolated cell."