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BBC News
By Pam O'Toole
 The wife of Iran's best-known political
prisoner, journalist Akbar Ganji,
says officials will not let her visit her husband, 49 days into a hunger
strike.
Massoumeh Shafeih says
she will not be allowed access until she stops giving interviews to the
foreign media.
Mrs Ganji said she
received the message when she called the hospital where he is held to
arrange her next visit.
Mr Ganji was jailed
five years ago for linking senior Iranian officials to the murders of
prominent intellectuals.
His hunger strike is aimed at achieving his unconditional release.
During her last visit, on Thursday night, Mrs Ganji said her husband looked as though he may only
live for a few more days.
Collapse
Since Mr Ganji started
his hunger strike, his wife has been foreign reporters' main source of news
about his condition.
Although most Iranians know about his fast, Iran's official media has stayed
largely silent.
The hardline judiciary insists that he is not on
hunger strike, saying has been hospitalised for
treatment on a knee injury, and is in good condition.
But Mrs Ganji maintains
that during her last visit, late on Thursday night, Tehran's chief prosecutor was present
at Mr Ganji's bedside
and told her that doctors did not expect her husband to last the night.
She said Mr Ganji - who
has lost more than 25kg in weight - looked as though he may only live a few
days.
Mrs Ganji said she
later tried to persuade her husband to take food, or at least to agree to
be fed serum through an intravenous drip, but he refused.
She said he then tried to get out of bed, walked a few steps and collapsed
unconscious.
At that point, she said, she authorised the
hospital to give him serum via a drip, which it did.
Mrs Ganji said that
when she called the hospital on Friday to arrange her next visit, she was
told that she could not see him again while she continued giving interviews
to the foreign media.
She has vowed to
continue with the interviews.
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