NCRI – Imprisoned Iranian workers’ rights activist Jafar Azimzadeh who is on day 63 of a hunger strike is in critical condition.
According to reports from inside Iran, eye-witnesses at the hospital where he is being held said he threw up today and doctors have said that his condition is very serious since his digestive system no longer even accepts water. Doctors have said he has passed the point of no return.
On Wednesday, June 29, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in a statement reported that hundreds of workers, teachers and youths rallied outside the office of the Iranian regime’s president Hassan Rouhani in Tehran earlier in the day in support of Mr. Azimzadeh, demanding urgent action to save his life.
Gathering from different cities across Iran, protesters were seen chanting, “Workers don’t belong in prison. Workers’ wages is not lashing,” “Jailed workers must be freed,” “Political prisoners must be freed,” “62 days have passed and Jafar remains in jail,” and “Plunderers are free, workers are in jail.” The repressive intelligence agents and police prevented anyone from taking any video footage or still images of the rally.
A day prior to this gathering Rasoul Boddaghi, Ismail Abdi and Mahmoud Beheshti Langroudi, jailed teachers who were recently released, were joined by 180 other teachers and workers issuing a statement announcing a hunger strike from Thursday, June 30, to Saturday, July 2 in support of Mr. Azimzadeh.
Moreover, Mr. Ali Moezi, a supporter of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK) and a number of other political prisoners in the prisons of Evin and Gohardasht underscored the repressive regime and its so-called judiciary are responsible for Mr. Azimzadeh’s health and well-being, adding they, too, will be on hunger strike starting Tuesday, June 28.
Mr. Azimzadeh has gone unconscious many times in the past few days. Despite his conditions, Hajilou, the regime’s representative in the public prosecutor’s office, has said they will do nothing in the case of Mr. Azidzadeh losing his life.
Azimzadeh has been on hunger strike protesting the “violation of the fundamental rights of teachers and workers,” “their detention and prosecution for bogus reasons” and raising charges such as “acting against security” against labor activists and teachers.
Mr. Azimzadeh, who was arrested on November 8, 2015, is currently serving a six-year prison sentence in Ward 8 of Evin Prison for engaging in peaceful and legitimate trade union activities.
On May 27, Mr. Azimzadeh sent an open letter to the International Labor Organization (ILO) from prison in which he lambasted the Iranian regime’s mistreatment of workers.
A key demand of Mr. Azimzadeh and other workers’ union activists is for the authorities to drop the charge of “gathering and colluding to commit crimes against national security” and other national security charges in cases of union activities.
Mr. Azimzadeh sent a statement out of Evin Prison following the release on bail of fellow political prisoner Ismail Abdi, Secretary General of Iran’s Teachers’ Trade Association (ITTA), vowing to continue his hunger strike until the “demands of millions of teachers and workers” are met.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in a May 24 statement once again called on all defenders of human rights, particularly the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel and inhumane punishments, the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, to take urgent and effective action to secure the release of political prisoners on hunger strike in Iran, including Mr. Azimzadeh.