Iranian prisoners, Sotoudeh and Arshi end hunger strike

Nasrin Sotoudeh

Nasrin Sotoudeh, detained Iranian lawyer and Gholamhossein Arshi, post-election political detainee ended their hunger strike after several days.

Madreseh Feministi website reports that Nasrin Sotoudeh was allowed to contact her family yesterday and inform them that she is no longer on hunger strike.

Reza Khandan, Sotoudeh’s husband reports that Sotoudeh confirmed that on Wednesday her health situation became critical and that she was transferred to the prison infirmary.

Sotoudeh has said that she has broken her strike because of her “motherly duties to her two children who are still minors.”

Nasrin Sotoudeh was arrested in early September and has been in solitary confinement ever since her arrest. This is the second time she went on a hunger strike to protest against mistreatment in prison and unfairness of her legal proceedings.

Sotoudeh’s practice mainly focused on human rights cases and one of the charges against her is her collaboration with the Human Rights Defenders Centre in Iran.

Kaleme website also reports that Gholamhossein Arashi has also ended his hunger strike after three weeks.

Reportedly Arshi, who was arrested in the post-election protests to irregularities in the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was transferred to solitary confinement for having complained about the lack of facilities at the infamous section 350 of Evin Prison.

Arshi was transferred to the general section from solitary confinement yesterday and allowed to visit his family.

Several Iranian political prisoners have gone on hunger strike in the past months in order to focus attention on their dire conditions and undetermined legal states in prison.

Concerned opposition leaders as well as prominent figures from Iran’s cultural and religious communities have called on these prisoners to end their hunger strike.