Kurdish Political Prisoners on Hunger Strike

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran

Nearly a month into their hunger strike inside the Orumiyeh Central Prison to protest dangerous and inhumane prison conditions, 27 Kurdish political prisoners have been summoned and threatened with new judicial cases if they don’t cease their hunger strike, a source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

Beginning on November 20, 2014, 30 political prisoners inside Orumiyeh Central Prison’s Ward 12 embarked on a hunger strike to protest severely overcrowded prison conditions and the prison’s refusal to separate categories of prisoners, which has resulted in the incarceration of these political prisoners alongside violent criminals.

So far one of the prisoners, Mansour Arvand, who is on death row, was transferred to Mahabad Prison. Two others, Jafar Mirzaei and Arafat Asghari, were released after completing their six-month sentences.

According to the source, over the past few days, the following prisoners, Osman Mostafapour, Alireza Rasouli, Ali Afshari, and Mohammad Abdollahi were summoned by the Chief Warden of Orumiyeh Prison, Nobakht Mokhatari, who told them that if they don’t end their hunger strike, they would be facing new judicial cases against them.

Marivan Intelligence Office agents threatened prisoner Saman Nassim’s family on December 10, 2014, stating that if he continues his hunger strike, his death sentence will be carried out, the source said.

According to the source, the health of at least 12 prisoners from the group has seriously deteriorated as a result of their hunger strike. According to the report, Ali Afshari, Mohammad Abdollahi, Shirkoo Hassanpour, Khezr Rasoul Morovat, Alireza Rasouli, Yousef Kakeh Meimi, Sirvan Najvai, Osman Mastafapour, Ahmad Tamouee, Abdollah Omoumi, Saman Nassim, and Souresh Afshari are suffering from a drop in blood pressure, weight loss, severe weakness, and dizziness. The prisoners were transferred to the prison infirmary, but were returned to their ward after they refused to be fed intravenously.

In an earlier interview with the Campaign, the source, who is a human rights activist, said that the capacity for Ward 12 at Orumiyeh Prison where political prisoners are kept is 50 prisoners, whereas it currently houses 80 prisoners. Fifty of the current inmates in this ward have been convicted of dangerous crimes such as murder and drug trafficking.