The family of Kamal Sharifi has expressed grave concern over the well-being of the Iranian-Kurdish political prisoner, who has been on a hunger strike for more than 40 days.
Mahnaz Sharifi, the prisoner’s sister, told the Jaras opposition website that one of his cellmates called the family to report that Sharifi’s condition is not good.
Kamal Sharifi was arrested 12 years ago in Saghez on security charges and was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment in exile with no visitation rights.
His father told Radio Zamaneh that Kamal started a hunger strike to protest being held in the same section as general criminals.
“My brother is a journalist and a political activist, and that is why he was sentenced;” his sister says. “However, they transferred him to Minab Prison, where he is the only political prisoner and is being held among hoodlums, drug smugglers, murderers and addicts.”
Mahnaz Sharifi said her brother contests this treatment and has been demanding to meet with the local judge.
But according to the family, the judge has adamantly refused such a meeting and has told Sharifi’s father that he should stop trying to visit his son and “let him die there.”
Mahnaz Sharifi says she holds the judge accountable for the fate of his brother.
