Iran: Call to save political prisoners on hunger strike

The Iranian Resistance hails political prisoners on hunger strike Messrs. Mahmoud Beheshti Langaroudi, Esmail Abdi and Jafar Azimzadeh who are defending teachers’ and workers’ rights and calls on the Iranian people, especially the teachers and workers, to show their solidarity with them. It further calls on human rights defenders and institutions defending the rights of teachers, educators and workers to take immediate and effective measures for their swift and unconditional release and to have their demands heeded.

Mr. Mahmoud Beheshti Langaroudi, an imprisoned teacher, has gone on a hunger strike since April 20 in protest to the tyrannical sentences by regime’s unjust courts. His condition since last week that he switched to dry hunger strike has deteriorated. He has called to be tried in a public trial with a jury. He was arrested in 2006 for defending the rights of the teachers and subsequently condemned to a total of 14 years in prison in sham trials and repeated trumped up charges.
Imprisoned teacher Esmail Abdi and imprisoned laborer Jafar Azimzadeh have gone on hunger strike since April 29 in solidarity with Mr. Langaroudi. Their hunger strike is to protest the incarceration and trial of defenders of teachers’ and workers’ rights upon absurd mullahs-fabricated security charges, as well as the violation of basic rights of teachers and workers. They each have been condemned to six years in prison.
This hunger strike has met a wave of support from teachers and other deprived classes and a number of other political prisoners have joined them in the hunger strike. Hundreds of teachers in different parts of the country have staged hunger strikes in the recent days.
A large number of teachers, workers, nurses, education retirees, social welfare organization and the oil ministry in various cities, including Tehran, Sanandaj, Marivan, Aligoudarz, Mashhad, Hamadan, Rezvanshahr, Karaj and Shahr-e Ray have assembled and issued communiqués in support of the demands by the striking prisoners. On May 6, the gathering in Shahr-e Ray was at the grave of Dr. Khanali, a teacher killed by the regime of the Shah for defending the rights of teachers, and protestors called for the release of the striking prisoners.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
May 9, 2016