A group of Iranian prisoners is in the third week of hunger strike to protest “dire conditions” in Rejaishahr Prison in Karaj.
According to Kaleme website, the prisoners are protesting against “deplorable and unsanitary conditions in the prison as well as being deprived of their rights to personal visits, furloughs and telephone calls.”
None of these prisoners was granted the New Year furlough customarily given to Iranian prisoners for the Norooz holidays, which begin on March 21.
The prisoners are reportedly deprived of adequate sanitary, dietary and basic living needs.
Since April 10 the have consumed only water and refused all food. Prison officials have so far ignored the prisoners’ demands.
Those participating in the strike include : union activist Mansour Osanlou, Rasoul Bedaghi of the Iranian Teachers Association, journalist Issa Saharkhiz, political activist Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, human rights activist Mehdi Mahmoudian, journalists Keyvan Samimi and Reza Rafii, student activists Ali Ajami and Majid Tavakoli and political activists Jafar Aghdami and Behrouz Javid Tehrani.
These prisoners have also expressed their solidarity with Fakhrisadat Mohtashamipour, another political prisoner who has been on a hunger strike since April 4 to press for an in-person visit with her husband.
Mohtashamipour’s husband, another political activist, has also been jailed by Islamic Republic for supporting the opposition’s allegations of fraud in the 2009 presidential election.
The Rejaishahr prisoners say they will continue their strike until their demands are met.
