Opposition leader urges Iranian prisoners to end hunger strike

MirHosein Mousavi

Iranian opposition leader, MirHosein Mousavi lauded the resistance put up by post-election political prisoners in Islamic Republic jails and urged the several prisoners who are currently on hunger strike to end their strike.

In an official message posted on Kaleme website, MirHosein Mousavi addresses the detainees on hunger strike writing: “Our people are much more aware of your hardships and sacrifices today than any other time. Your message of resistance has gotten through by word of mouth and from one heart to the other through the Green breeze of awareness, and reached every corner of our beloved Iran.”

He adds that the people are now aware that these “courageous men and women are willing to resist to their last breath in order to save the hope of a dignified life for their people.”

Mousavi noted that the political detainees languishing in Iranian prisons today are “informed and educated individuals from every class, group and stratum of the society.”

He urged them to end their strike and relieve the country of its grave concern for their health.

In the post-election protests in Iran over the past year and a half, several political detainees have gone on hunger strike to protests against irregularities in the legal proceedings against them and demand just treatment by the judiciary and the prison authorities.

According to Kaleme website, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Mohammad Nourizad, Gholamhossein Arshi, Reza Shahabi and Arash Sedghi are currently on hunger strike in Iranian prisons and in critical health conditions.

In the past week, numerous prominent figures from Iran's political, cultural and religious communities have expressed concern for the well-being of the prisoners and called on them to end their hunger strikes.