Six prisoners on strike in Evin to protest the "clear guilt" of officials in the death of Bektash Abtin

Six political prisoners imprisoned in Evin have been on strike since Wednesday, January 12, protesting the authorities' "blatant negligence" in the death of imprisoned poet and filmmaker Bektash Abtin and the failure to address their demands.

These six people include Sadegh Omidi, Hamid Haj Jafar Kashani, Mahmoud Ali Naghi, Peyman Pourdad, Ali Asghar Hassanirad, and Mehdi Darini, political prisoners in "Ward Eight" of Evin Prison.

Sohail Arabi, a former prisoner of conscience who is currently in exile, announced in a tweet on Thursday that the six political prisoners had gone on a "complete strike" (without food or water) since Wednesday afternoon.

In a note seen by the human rights website HRANA, they also cited the "clear negligence of prison officials, the judiciary, and the prisons organization in the death of Bektash Abtin" as the reason for their strike, as well as "the failure to respond to their demands, including the acceptance and apology of the aforementioned officials in the country's official media."

Bektash Abtin had been transferred to Evin Prison to serve his sentence since October 25, 2020, despite warnings about his health, at the height of the COVID-19 outbreak. After contracting COVID-19 twice in prison and delays in his treatment, he finally died on January 8 at Sasan Hospital in Tehran.

Bektash Abtin's death, due to Evin Prison authorities' disregard for his physical condition, had previously occurred with other prisoners, including Behnam Mahjoubi, a Gonabadi dervish.

In recent days, a group of political prisoners in Fashafoyeh and Rajai Shahr prisons also reacted in separate statements to the death of Bektash Abtin due to the negligence of prison and judicial authorities. They considered the current practice of treating political prisoners to be a continuation of the "chain murders" in the Islamic Republic.

Despite this, the Islamic Republic's judicial authorities claim to "respect the rights of prisoners" in prisons without being held accountable for the deaths of political prisoners.

Source: Radio Farda