NCRI, September 14 – A number of political prisoners including Messrs. Valiollah Feiz Mahdavi, Hojjat Zamani, Bina Darabvand and Behrouz Javid Tehrani have staged a hunger strike in protest against the appalling conditions of the infamous Gohardasht (Rajai Shahr) prison in Karaj (west of Tehran). They have been incarcerated in ward for bandits and murderers for a long time.
The health of Mr. Zamani, 29, imprisoned since 2001 and sentenced to four executions, has rapidly deteriorated. He has been beaten and assaulted repeatedly by the prison guards. His brothers, Khaz’al and Fallah, and one uncle were murdered by the Revolutionary Guards and Intelligence Ministry agents because of their support for the People’s Mojahedin.
Mr. Feiz Mahdavi was arrested in 2001 on the charge of sympathizing with the Mojahedin. Since then, he has been held in limbo and under increasing psychological and physical pressures.
The four prisoners organized a hunger strike committee in Gohardasht Prison to voice protest over intolerable crackdown and pressures while in captivity.
The Iranian Resistance again calls on international human rights organizations, particularly the current session of the United Nations General Assembly, the UN Human Rights Commission and the High Commissioner for Human Rights to take urgent action to sage the lives of political prisoners.
The international community’s silence and inaction has emboldened the criminal mullahs to continue and step up the persistent and widespread human rights abuses, especially increasing pressures on political prisoners.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
September 14, 2005