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Iran: Shops not open in support of Kurdish political prisoners

mahabad_closed_shops150NCRI – Local shopkeepers refused to open until 11 a.m. on Saturday supporting the hunger strike by the Kurdish political prisoners in the northwestern city of Mahabad.

The State Security forces (SSF) – mullahs' suppressive regime—and local agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) attacked the shopkeepers and citizens in the streets to force them to open their businesses.

Local residents flocked outside city's court. Plain-clothes security agents were taking photos and films of demonstrators. The protesters vowed to hold another demonstration on Monday.

Kurdish political prisoners have gone on hunger strike nationwide over prison conditions, said a statement marking the start of the protest on August 25.

"There are 40 prisoners in the northwestern city of Orumieh, 15 in the northwestern city of Mahabad, 13 in the western city of Sanandaj and eight in Tehran's notorious Evin prison," said the statement not locating the four remaining prisoners.

The statement calls on the "world conscience" to act on behalf of political prisoners under the worsening conditions in the mullahs' jails. Eight Kurdish journalists and political prisoners are on death row, according to the statement.

The Kurdish prisoners called for "an immediate stay of execution sentences for political prisoners and an end to all forms of torture and degrading punishments."
The strikers also demanded that prisons throughout the country come under an international monitoring committee.
   
The mullahs' inhuman regime holds political prisoners in Evin prison ward 209 run by the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). In addition, Gohardasht prison, 40 kilometers west of Tehran, is another facility with an unknown number of political prisoners constantly living in grave conditions.