Two political prisoners in Urmia Central Prison went on hunger strike
Two political prisoners, Ebrahim Khalili Hamedani and Salar Khalili Hamedani, who were recently sentenced to 16 years in prison each, went on a hunger strike in Urmia Central Prison to protest this sentence.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network reported on Tuesday, October 29, that Ebrahim Khalili Hamedani and his son Salar Khalili Hamedani, who were previously sentenced to a total of 32 years in prison by the Second Branch of the Urmia Islamic Revolutionary Court on charges of "membership in the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran" and "propaganda against the regime," have been on a hunger strike since Wednesday, October 29 in protest of the verdict.
The court hearing for these two political prisoners was held on September 17, and the verdict issued on Tuesday, October 2 was delivered to Ebrahim and Salar Khalili Hamedani, who are incarcerated in the psychiatric ward of Urmia Central Prison.
According to this verdict, each of these individuals has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for the charge of "membership in the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran" and one year in prison for the charge of "propaganda against the system."
Ebrahim Khalili Hamedani and his two children, Salar and Maryam, were arrested by security forces in Urmia on March 24, 2018, and after being interrogated at the city's Intelligence Department detention center, they were transferred to Urmia Central Prison. Maryam Khalili Hamedani was temporarily released from prison on May 25, 2018, after posting a 250 million Tomans bail pending the completion of the trial.
Previously, Peyman Mirzazadeh, a Kurdish singer from Urmia who is serving his sentence in Urmia Prison, had gone on strike in Urmia Prison in early August of this year to protest the execution of the sentence of 100 lashes and two years in prison that was issued to him on charges of acting against national security and propagandizing against the regime.
In February of last year, Amnesty International called 2018 the "year of shame" for the Islamic Republic, announcing that more than seven thousand people, including participants in demonstrations, students, journalists, women's rights activists, environmental activists, labor activists, and ethnic and religious minority rights activists, had been arrested in Iran this year.
The US State Department has repeatedly and on various occasions condemned the violent confrontations and widespread repression of protesters, as well as the repeated and persistent violations of the rights of Iranian citizens, including the rights of ethnic and religious minorities, as well as the rights of women and children by the regime ruling that country.
Source: Voice of America
