Mohammad Nourizad's Wife Says He Went on Hunger Strike in Solitary Confinement with 'Hands and Feet Bound'

Mohammad Nourizad's social media account published an audio file quoting his wife, stating that Mr. Nourizad had been in solitary confinement for three days with 'hands and feet bound.' Fatemeh Maleki, Mr. Nourizad's wife, reported on Tuesday, December 25, that since the previous Thursday, 'events' had occurred in prison regarding him, of which she has no details, but she knows that her husband has gone on a dry hunger strike in solitary confinement. She added that after his release from solitary confinement, Mr. Nourizad protested against the 'drug mafia activities and forced labor of prisoners,' and for this reason, his phone communication was cut off. On Wednesday, December 26, Fatemeh Maleki announced in an interview with Radio Farda that she was able to meet her husband, who had been banned from visits, by 'insisting.' She said during this meeting, the political prisoner appeared very weak and thin, and they had to support him under his arms to help him walk. Fatemeh Maleki also stated that in protest, her husband 'cut his forehead with a blade' and, in addition to the dry hunger strike, has refused to take his diabetes medication, even though the prison medical staff reported that his blood sugar was very high. She further mentioned that despite a request for a prison inspection, Mr. Nourizad has stated he will not meet with the prison inspector and will continue his hunger strike until the situation of the workers at Evin Prison and the activities of the drug mafia are addressed. In a previous message published on Mohammad Nourizad's social media account, Fatemeh Maleki described the treatment of her husband in prison as 'an attempt at state-sanctioned murder' and wrote: 'You must be pleased to bring prisoners to a point where they hold their lives in their hands so that their cries of protest may be heard.' Mohammad Nourizad has been sentenced to an additional 61 months in prison. In June 2019, along with several other civil activists, he issued a statement calling for the resignation of Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, and was subsequently arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison, two years of exile in Izeh, and two years of travel ban. He has faced new convictions in two separate cases during his imprisonment. This political activist referred to the presidential elections in a message this July as a 'shameful charade' and declared: 'Anyone who participates in the elections has betrayed Iran and Iranians.'