Ten Iranian political prisoners in Evin Prison have begun a hunger strike, the opposition website Kaleme reports.

In a report dated Tuesday May 7, Kaleme reported that Saeed Madani, Abdollah Momeni, Abolfazl Abedini Nasr, Siamak Ghaderi, AmirKhosro Delisani, Mohammd Hassan Yousefpour Seifi, Saeed Abedini, Kamran Ayazi, Mohammad Ebrahimi and Pourya Enrahimi are now refusing food, after prison authorities refused to return them to the general ward of the prison.

The 10 prisoners are currently in solitary confinement and are not being allowed any visits from their families.

The prisoners were moved to solitary after protesting against the high price and low nutrition of the food offered to them in the prison store.

The prisoners’ attempt to address the issue through their elected representative, Saeed Madani, was reportedly met by resistance from prison management and led to the drastic measure of solitary confinement.

Iranian Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi has written extensively to Ahmad Shaheed, the UN human rights rapporteur for Iran, about the dismal situation of prisoners in Iran.