End of Hunger Strike; Saba Kordafshariís Letter from Qarchak Prison in Varamin
Saba Kordafshafi, a civil activist imprisoned in Qarchak Prison in Varamin, ended her hunger strike on Monday, May 17, 2021. Ms. Kordafshafi, who had been on a hunger strike since Saturday, April 8, 2021, in protest against increased pressure on her family and other political prisoners and demanding the release of her mother, Raheleh Ahmadi, has now issued a letter explaining the reasons for ending her strike and her physical condition.
According to Hrana News Agency, the news organ of the Iranian Human Rights Activists Group, on Monday, May 17, 2021, Saba Kordafshafi, a civil activist imprisoned in Qarchak Prison in Varamin, ended her hunger strike.
Ms. Kordafshafi, who had been on a hunger strike since Saturday, April 8, 2021, in protest against increased pressure on her family and other political prisoners and demanding the release of her mother, Raheleh Ahmadi, who was sentenced to imprisonment for reporting information about her daughter’s condition and is currently serving her sentence in Evin Prison, has now issued a letter explaining the reasons for ending her strike and her physical condition.
She previously notified of her hunger and medication strike on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, in a letter explaining the reasons for this action.
The full text of this letter, which has been provided to Hrana for publication, is as follows:
“For years, the response to protests and strikes has been beating and gunfire. For years, if we open our mouths and speak about rights and trampled beliefs, we receive nothing but arrest, solitary confinement, psychological and physical torture, imprisonment, and execution. For years, if families seek justice for their children’s deaths and imprisonment, they will have no fate but that of their children. For years, they have been trying to eliminate thought and reason, the right to choose and decide in this country, and to raise people like robots with hollow and dry beliefs.
But they could not and will never inject into our rusted minds what they have. They cannot dictate beliefs that even they themselves do not believe in. Against us, they come with guns and rifles with our hands tied in protest, and they cannot bear the pens that speak of our thoughts and ideals, and they remove the pens.
This same pattern is repeated in prisons. A prisoner whose only tool of struggle is hunger strike and sit-in is forced to be silenced through various methods. Demands are met with violence. You took away our solitude and our pens. But how can you destroy what we nurture in our thoughts and from which we do not fear to speak?! The struggle for freedom does not end with pressure or threats, but finds its way in a turbulent environment and reaches its conclusion.
On April 8, 2021, to end the pressure on the families of political prisoners and to demand the release of my mother, Raheleh Asil Ahmadi, I went on a hunger strike, but unfortunately I do not enjoy suitable physical conditions. I am fully aware that human life has no value for the Islamic Republic, so I am forced to end my hunger strike, but I still seek to uphold my demands. Oppression has never been permanent and never will be.
Saba Kordafshafi / May 17, 2021 / Qarchak Prison in Varamin.”
Saba Kordafshafi was previously released on bail on March 5, 2019, for a short leave and returned to prison on April 11, 2019, when her leave ended. Raheleh Ahmadi, Saba Kordafshafi’s mother, also returned to Evin Prison on April 11, 2019, when her leave ended, after officials refused to extend her leave for treatment. She had been released on bail for medical leave on March 15, 2019. Ms. Ahmadi suffers from a herniated disc that requires surgery and two months of rest after the operation.
Raheleh Ahmadi previously experienced medical problems resulting from nervous stress and suffered a herniated disc after her daughter Saba Kordafshafi’s transfer to Qarchak Prison in Varamin, and now needs to use a walker.
Saba Kordafshafi, a civil activist and opponent of mandatory hijab, was released from the women’s ward of Evin Prison in January 2019 after serving a previous sentence, but was arrested again by security forces on June 1, 2019. She was ultimately sentenced in September 2019 by Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court to 15 years imprisonment for “spreading corruption and obscenity through unveiling and walking without hijab,” 1 year and 6 months for “propaganda activities against the system,” and 7 years and 6 months for “assembly and conspiracy to commit crimes against national security,” totaling 24 years imprisonment along with other social deprivations. For the 22-year-old Saba Kordafshafi, with the application of sentence reduction law and Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, 7 years and 6 months will be enforceable.
Raheleh Asil Ahmadi, an imprisoned civil activist and mother of Saba Kordafshafi, was sentenced in December 2019 by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court to 4 years and 2 months imprisonment. According to the verdict issued by Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court under the presidency of Judge Iman Afshari, Raheleh Asil Ahmadi was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months for “assembly and conspiracy against national security through cooperation with ‘hostile’ media” and 8 months for “propaganda against the Islamic Republic,” totaling 4 years and 2 months imprisonment. Ms. Ahmadi was acquitted of the charge of “encouraging corruption through unveiling in public places and publishing it on the internet.” Of this, under Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, the harsher punishment of 3 years and 6 months imprisonment for “assembly and conspiracy against national security through cooperation with ‘hostile’ media” applies to Ms. Ahmadi. This sentence was ultimately reduced to 2 years and 7 months of imprisonment through non-objection to the verdict and acceptance of the sentence. Ms. Ahmadi was finally arrested on February 15, 2020, after appearing at Branch 3 of the Sentence Enforcement Office of Tehran’s Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office and transferred to Evin Prison to serve her sentence.
Source: Hrana
