Hengaw: Soheila Mohammadi, Kurdish prisoner, sews her lips and goes on hunger strike

Human rights sources have reported that Soheila Mohammadi, a political prisoner, has sewn her lips and gone on hunger strike in prison. According to the human rights organization "Hengaw", Soheila Mohammadi took this action on Saturday, August 5, in protest against the "obstruction by the officials of Urmia prison". According to this report, a "reliable source" stated that this action by Soheila Mohammadi came after her request for "leave, conditional release, and release with an electronic bracelet" was denied by the security agencies of the Islamic Republic. Soheila Mohammadi, a political prisoner from Salmas in West Azerbaijan province, is currently imprisoned in Urmia Central Prison. Despite having served three years of her five-year sentence, she is still deprived of her "right to leave and conditional release". Accordingly, this political prisoner, who also has a child, attempted "suicide" in March 2023 by "stabbing herself in the chest" due to pressure from the security agencies of the Iranian government and their obstruction of her leave and pardon requests, but ultimately survived thanks to the timely intervention of her cellmates. The Islamic Republic has been criticized and condemned by international organizations for its human rights violations against prisoners and for not granting the basic rights of incarcerated individuals over the past four decades. Soheila Mohammadi was arrested in the fall of 2020 by the intelligence forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Salmas, transferred to the women's section of Urmia Central Prison after several months of interrogation, and subsequently sentenced to five years in prison by the first branch of the Urmia Revolutionary Court on charges of membership in the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK). The Persian section of "Voice of America" has addressed the issue of Iranian prisons and the violation of prisoners' rights in various programs and articles, including a special program titled "Prison: University or Killing Ground". Vahid Beheshti, one hundred days into his hunger strike in front of the British Foreign Office, states he will continue his sit-in. Majid Khademi has been summoned again following a complaint by the prosecutor; the fourteenth day of Ali Zargani's hunger strike. Is prison a killing ground or a university? Iran is among the top ten countries in the world in terms of the number of prisoners.