Watchdog

VITSEBSK, Belarus -- Jailed Belarusian activist Syarhey Kavalenka was unexpectedly released today, 12 days before the end of his sentence, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports.

Kavalenka was discharged today from a hospital in his hometown of Vitsebsk, where he was being treated for low blood pressure after going on hunger strike, and immediately taken by police to the detention center where he was serving a 15-day jail term.

Kavalenka, 36, told RFE/RL that at the detention center a policeman escorting him received a call on his mobile phone. He then informed Kavalenka that he was free to leave.

The policeman also told him that he can remain free while his appeal to the city prosecutor's office is being considered.

"It looks as though my hunger strike and persistence worked," Kavalenka told RFE/RL. He added that he will now end his hunger strike but is ready to resume it if the prosecutor's office rules he must serve the remaining 12 days of his jail term.

Kavalenka, a member of the Belarusian Conservative Christian Party-Belarusian Popular Front, had to suspend his hunger strike on April 5 after being hospitalized for low blood pressure the previous day. He had served only three days of his sentence.

He originally went on hunger strike to protest his arrests on March 25 and again on April 1.

Kavalenka was arrested the first time in Vitsebsk while holding the banned opposition national white-red-white flag to mark the 93rd anniversary of the country's independence from Russia. He was sentenced to seven days in jail for "verbally insulting the police."

When Kavalenka was released on April 1, he was rearrested immediately after leaving the jail and sentenced to 15 days in prison for violating the three-year "limited freedom" sentence given to him in January 2010 for "the illegal display of the banned Belarusian national flag" in a public place.

Read more in Belarusian here

The jailed Iranian journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi has won the UN cultural organization's press freedom award.

UNESCO said on April 7 it chose Zeidabadi, the former editor in chief of "Azad" newspaper and a contributor to the BBC's Persian service, as the recipient of its Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.

Zeidabadi was among hundreds arrested in the crackdown that followed mass protests against Iran's disputed June 2009 presidential election. He is serving a six-year jail sentence on charges of plotting to overthrow the government with a "soft revolution."

Diana Sangor, head of the 12-member judging panel for the award, said Zeidabadi was chosen for his "exceptional courage, resistance, and commitment to freedom of expression, democracy, human rights, tolerance, and humanity. Beyond him, also the prize will award the numerous Iranian journalists who are currently jailed."

Janis Karklins, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda today he hopes Iran will heed UNESCO's call to release Zeidabadi and that the journalist will be able to pick up his $25,000 award in person.

Zeidabadi's wife says her husband has been put under severe pressure in prison and has not been granted any leave since his arrest.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent her “deepest” congratulations to Zeidabadi, saying the award is also recognition of the Iranian people's rich culture and strong commitment to human rights, despite brutal repression by their government.

Last year, Zeidabadi was awarded the Golden Pen of Freedom by the World Association of Newspapers in Paris.

The Guillermo Cano award is named in honor of the Colombian journalist who was murdered in front of his office in 1986.