Naghi Mahmoudi: The Demands of Hunger-Striking Prisoners Are Legal

On the sixty-sixth day of the hunger strike of Ali Shariati, a political prisoner in Evin, Tehran, on Wednesday, January 5, social media showed significant attention to his condition, and for several hours, his name was at the top of global Twitter trends. Ali Shariati was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of 'collusion and conspiracy against national security' for participating in protests against acid attacks. Over two months ago, he began his hunger strike in protest of this sentence and has stated that he will continue until this charge is removed from his case. According to his mother and human rights organizations, Ali Shariati's health condition has been reported as critical. In an interview with Naghi Mahmoudi, a lawyer and former law professor at Tabriz University who is currently in Germany and follows political prisoners' issues, I asked him about Ali Shariati's situation. Mahmoudi states that Iranian authorities should be asked whether acid attacks are examples of collusion and conspiracy to commit a crime against national security or protests against it. He believes the protest is justified, as the accused in the acid attacks have not yet been arrested even after two years. Mahmoudi also considers the one billion tomans bail for the release of Arash Sadeghi to be excessively heavy, stating that this amount of bail is very disproportionate for such a baseless charge. He deems the demands of political prisoners in Iran who are on hunger strike to be legal.