Kalameh: Temporary End of Hunger Strike by Political Prisoners in Rajai Shahr Prison

The Kalameh website, close to Mir Hossein Mousavi, reported on Tuesday, December 8, that following the transfer of the assailants who attacked Saeed Madani and Saeed Rezvani Faqih from Hall 12 of Ward 4 of Rajai Shahr Prison, the hunger strike of five political prisoners in this ward has ended "temporarily." According to previous reports from this website, on Saturday, December 7, two prisoners from Hall 12 of Ward 4 of Rajai Shahr Prison, who have a "history of violence and misconduct," attacked a group of political prisoners with knives after "threatening and intimidating" them, beating them up. Following this incident, Saeed Rezvani Faqih, Saeed Madani, Jafar Aghdami, Behzad Arab Gol, and Kamran Iazai, political prisoners in Rajai Shahr Prison, announced an "indefinite hunger strike" demanding the transfer of the attackers from the political prisoners' hall. The Kalameh website reported on Tuesday that a week after officials' promises, these two "malicious" prisoners have been transferred from Hall 12 of Ward 4 of Rajai Shahr Prison to another ward. According to this report, after the transfer of these prisoners, the hunger strike of the five political prisoners also ended "temporarily" due to the implementation of the follow-ups by the supervising judge of the prison and legal proceedings regarding the issue of the "assault" on Saeed Madani and Saeed Rezvani Faqih. These prisoners had previously stated in a statement that political prisoners in Rajai Shahr Prison have long been under severe pressure due to unusual restrictions on their legal rights, including phone calls, leave, healthcare, and nutrition. Political prisoners in recent years have declared that they are deprived of some rights mentioned in the laws of the Islamic Republic for prisoners. Meanwhile, in recent years, especially after the protests against the results of the 2009 presidential election, political prisoners have repeatedly gone on hunger strikes in protest against their detention conditions and incidents such as "beatings" by prison officials. Political prisoners have previously stated that according to the prison organization regulations regarding the separation of prisoners based on their crimes and accusations, political prisoners should be housed together in one ward. Ward 350 of Evin Prison and some wards of Rajai Shahr Prison were turned into special wards for political prisoners after the 2009 presidential election. However, following the widespread reaction to the news of the "beating" of prisoners in Ward 350 of Evin Prison by prison guards and security agents on Thursday, April 17, 2014, a number of political prisoners held in this ward were transferred to a building that had previously been quarantined in Ward 7 of Evin Prison and also to Rajai Shahr Prison.