Two Political Prisoners in Iran Go on Hunger Strike
Zardasht Ahmadi Ragheb and Sheila Manfred, two political prisoners held in prisons in greater Tehran and Qarchak Varamin, have begun a hunger strike in protest of prison conditions and violations of their rights.
Zardasht Ahmadi Ragheb, an imprisoned civil activist, announced on the twelfth day of his hunger strike in a phone message that he was first transferred to solitary confinement in the quarantine section of Evin Prison and then to Tehran’s Greater Prison, Ward Four, known as the “ward of criminals and offenders.”
His transfer to solitary confinement occurred after this political prisoner sent a message outside the prison. Zardasht Ahmadi Ragheb said in his latest phone message, “There are 52 solitary cells behind Ward 8 of Evin Prison.”
Mr. Ahmadi Ragheb states that when he protested his conditions while in solitary confinement in Evin’s quarantine section, he was tortured, and then he was deceived and removed from Evin Prison and transferred to Ward 4, where violent offenders are held in Greater Tehran Prison.
This dismissed civil activist and firefighter says his physical condition is not good and has reached “the brink of unconsciousness.”
It has been reported that Zardasht Ahmadi Ragheb, who was arrested on Monday, the 2nd of Esfand, was infected with coronavirus at the time of his detention.
Similarly, Sheila Manfred, a political prisoner held in Qarchak Varamin Prison, has gone on a hunger strike.
A source informed the “Campaign to Support Political Prisoners and Abolish Executions” that Sheila Manfred began a hunger strike after some “ordinary” prisoners threatened her by attacking her with a “canned door and knife.”
Sheila Manfred, who has been serving her sentence since 1 Bahman 1399, was previously sentenced by Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court to six years in prison and four months of forced labor in agricultural jihad on charges of “propagandistic activities against the system and insulting Islamic sanctities.” This sentence was reduced to four years and two months on appeal.
Ms. Manfred was sentenced in Bahman 1400 while in prison in another case by Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court to two years and eight months in prison and a fine of 10 million tomans on charges of “spreading lies” and “membership in anti-regime groups.”
Source: Voice of America
