Iran: Solidarity with Kurdish political prisoners on hunger strike

                      

In several cities across Iran, political prisoners expressed their solidarity with the Kurdish political prisoners on hunger strike in the prison of Orumieh (capital of the province of West Azerbaijan, situated in north western Iran).
According to reports, in solidarity with them, political prisoners held in other cities have also begun a hunger strike.
29 Kurdish political prisoners are on hunger strike since 20 November. They are protesting against poor living conditions in the prison, against the mistreatment of detainees and against the fact that political prisoners are being held in a cell with prisoners held for reasons other than political beliefs.
Prison authorities are exerting intense pressure on political prisoner strikers to stop their hunger strike. 
The director of Orumieh prison threatened that if they continue their strike they would be attacked and punished.
Some of the striking prisoners were threatened with a transfer to remote prisons in Iran.
Political prisoners in Rajai-Shahr (west of Tehran), in Zahedan (south-east) and Sanandaj (capital of the province of Kurdistan in the west of the country), and detainees in other prisons in southern Iran expressed their solidarity with the Kurdish political prisoners.
At present, 45 Kurdish political prisoners are detained in the central prison in the city of Orumieh. Ten of them have been sentenced to death.