Exclusive; Armita Paveer on the Seventeenth Day of Hunger Strike: I Will Not Back Down, Even at the Cost of Death

Seventeen days into her dry hunger strike, political prisoner Armita Paveer, held in Tabriz prison, told her relatives in a phone call from prison to prepare for any eventuality, stating that this time she would not back down and that her physical condition was such that her body had even rejected mandatory IV fluids. Armita Paveer, a student activist imprisoned in Tabriz Central Prison, emphasized in a phone call with her family on Sunday, February 11, which a recording of was provided to Voice of America, "After all these events, if I bow down to them and back down, I have insulted my own intelligence. Even at the cost of my life, I will not back down. Prepare yourselves for any event. I will not go to the infirmary or the hospital. Tell everyone to be ready for any event because this time I will not back down." In a phone conversation in Turkish with her relatives, she mentioned that due to her deteriorating condition the previous evening, she was transferred to the "lower floor" where officials checked her blood pressure, which had dropped to "around 6 over 4 with a pulse of 60," prompting them to call a doctor. Armita Paveer stated that it seems prison officials have initiated a "psychological war" against her, saying, "When the doctor came, he said my pressure was at 11. But since I was in critical condition, he said to take me to the infirmary, to which I replied that I would not go to the infirmary and demanded to be returned upstairs, as the infirmary has no facilities. Not even a functional blood pressure monitor to accurately show my pressure, and they keep saying different things. Or they are waging a psychological war against me." According to this political prisoner, while in this condition, prison officials took her to the infirmary and forcibly attempted to administer IV fluids, but due to "dehydrated veins," it was not possible to draw blood. She added, "The doctor said I have not eaten or drunk anything for 16 days; at least if I had drunk water, they could have found a vein." In response to prison officials' claims that they would keep her alive with IV fluids, she stated in this audio file: "I said, how can you administer IV fluids when I refuse to eat and drink? You say our lives are in your hands outside of prison, and now you say our hunger strike is also in your hands." This political prisoner expressed concern about the possibility of being injected with unknown medication, explaining: "They wanted to send me to the hospital, but I said I would not go to the hospital, and even if you take me, I will not break my hunger strike for a thousand and one reasons. They cut off the phones, and I could not issue a statement. Now they indirectly say they want to admit me to the [psychiatric] hospital; while I have neither been violent nor used foul language, nor have I used my blood sugar as an excuse to disturb the peace of the prisoners." She also announced that prison officials "say you have a bipolar disorder and need to see a psychiatrist," emphasizing: "They have waged a psychological war. I explicitly told them that you have a bipolar disorder because while you see all these crimes, all this lawlessness, you bury your heads in the sand and take dirty money from the system to take home to your families. You claim to have honor and conscience, but you live in the most dishonorable way." Armita Paveer continued in this phone call: "They say, do you think what will happen if you die? Bigger than you have died, and nothing happened. I said, fine, there are two scenarios: either after my death, a collective awareness will lead to something, which I hope will be a significant and positive event, or nothing will happen, and at least I will be free from living among a group of dishonorable and cowardly people who are driven by their worldly possessions and fears." According to Armita Paveer, prison officials "gathered the prisoners and wrote a letter claiming that Armita has incited you to rebellion," because "three or four prisoners had joined the hunger strike, and they used it as an excuse to report that Armita had coerced you." This political prisoner emphasized that "even if my corpse is taken out of here, I will not bow down after all these events," stating: "I told the judge that when he said you have a 750-page case, I replied that in this 750-page case, you could not accuse me of spreading falsehoods because all my statements are documented and factual." Armita Paveer, 29, was first arrested on November 1, 2022, during nationwide protests and was released on bail of 250 million tomans on December 7. This molecular biology student at Tabriz University has been in custody again since September 21 of this year and had previously gone on a hunger strike in protest of her indefinite detention. In previous days, Qasem Baadi, a lawyer, told Voice of America that the charges attributed to this student activist by the Revolutionary Court lack "legal validity" and that the life of this political prisoner is in "real danger" after two weeks of dry hunger strike.