Moradpour Ends Hunger Strike; Other Political Prisoners Continue

While Morteza Moradpour ended his hunger strike after 65 days in Tabriz prison, reports indicate that several other political prisoners, including Saeed Shirzad, Ali Shariati, Nizar Zaka, and Arash Sadeghi, are still on hunger strike. Ferdin Moradpour reported in an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that his brother ended his hunger strike on Wednesday, January 8, at the request of their mother. He stated that judicial authorities had not taken any action regarding Morteza Moradpour's request for the application of Article 134, but they promised to address his case 'through a legal process' after he breaks his hunger strike. Masoumeh Amani, Morteza Moradpour's mother, had asked her son to end his hunger strike in a video on Tuesday, January 7, and stated that after two months of hunger strike without any response from the authorities regarding her son's case, she concluded that 'human lives have no value to them.' Morteza Moradpour, a 29-year-old prisoner, cited the rejection of his request for the application of Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code as one of the reasons for his hunger strike. According to Article 134 of the new Islamic Penal Code, although the judge issues independent punishments for each crime, the more severe punishment must be executed at the time of enforcement. Mr. Moradpour was arrested in June 2009 after participating in the Ilgoli (Shahgoli) walking conference in Tabriz and was released on bail after six months. He was sentenced to three years in prison by the Revolutionary Court of Tabriz for 'propaganda against the Islamic Republic' and 'collusion and conspiracy to commit a crime against national security' and has been imprisoned again for the past 13 months. Some news websites have accused Mr. Moradpour of engaging in 'separatist' actions, but his current lawyer, Jafar Afsharnia, wrote on his Facebook page that his client 'only called for education in the mother tongue and the preservation of Lake Urmia during his arrest.' Besides Mr. Moradpour, several political prisoners, including Saeed Shirzad, Ali Shariati, Nizar Zaka, and Arash Sadeghi, have also gone on hunger strikes in recent weeks. Saeed Shirzad has been on hunger strike since December 8 in protest of the 'silent death of prisoners' and has sewn his lips shut while referring to multiple instances of prisoner rights violations. He previously stated that he would continue his hunger strike for 30 days and would then either end it or convert it to a dry hunger strike, depending on whether the 'voices of the voiceless' are heard. Saeed Shirzad, a member of the Society for the Defense of Child Labor and Street Children, was arrested on June 7, 2014, and sentenced to five years in prison by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court under Judge Abolqasem Salavati for 'collusion and conspiracy to act against national security.' Another political prisoner, Arash Sadeghi, has been on hunger strike since November 25 in protest of the handling of his case and the six-year prison sentence issued for his wife, Golrokh Irani, and no report has been published regarding the end of his hunger strike. A group of families of political prisoners in Iran published a letter to President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday, January 6, calling for his intervention and efforts to save the lives of Ali Shariati and Arash Sadeghi from death. Ali Shariati was sentenced for participating in a gathering in front of the parliament in protest against acid attacks in Isfahan for 'acting against national security' and announced after his arrest on November 1 that he would continue his hunger strike until this charge is removed from his case. Jason Pablett, lawyer for Nizar Zaka, a Lebanese citizen imprisoned in Iran, also reported that his client has been on hunger strike since December 9 in Evin Prison, demanding his unconditional release. Mr. Zaka was arrested in Tehran in November 2015, and the Mizan news agency, affiliated with the judiciary, later reported that he was sentenced to ten years in prison for collaborating with the U.S. government. In recent years, many political prisoners in Iran have gone on hunger strikes, and some, including Hadi Saber and Akbar Mohammadi, have died due to lack of medical attention during their hunger strikes. In the meantime, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported that two sisters and the brother-in-law of Atena Daemi, a jailed civil activist, have been summoned to the Fourth Branch of the 'Shahid Moqaddas' Prosecutor's Office located in Evin Prison due to a 'complaint from judicial agents' against them and 'for some explanations.' According to this report, the two sisters and the brother-in-law of Atena Daemi were at their parents' house on the day of her arrest and 'protested against Atena's detention without a judicial order.' Atena Daemi was sent to Evin Prison on December 27 to serve her seven-year sentence. On December 2, she announced in a letter from prison that agents attacked her house without a detention order, beating her and her sister, and a male officer assaulted her using pepper spray. Fatemeh (Atena) Daemi, Omid Alishenas, Asu Rostami, and Ali Noori were arrested by the IRGC Intelligence forces in September and October 2014, and Ms. Daemi and Omid Alishenas were sentenced in the appeals court to seven years of prison for 'collusion and conspiracy to act against national security' and 'insulting the leadership.' Asu Rostami and Ali Noori were also sentenced to two years of prison for 'collusion and conspiracy to act against national security' and 'insulting the leadership.'