Hamza Darwish, a Sunni prisoner at Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj, who is reportedly on a hunger strike since Sept 25, 2018, is suffering from weight loss, very low blood Pressure and chest pain after 55 days of hunger strike. So far no action has been taken with regard to his demands for a retrial by the Supreme Court as well as access to a lawyer.
Following the deterioration in the physical health of this religious prisoner, a number of his Cellmates have expressed concern over his health.
A reliable source has told Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) that prison authorities have so far denied addressing the legal demands of this prisoner. Moreover, despite the critical health condition of the prisoner, authorities have refused to transfer him to the prison clinic.
On the 55th day of the prisoner’s hunger strike, a group of Sunni prisoners made a statement and called for the support of international institutions and legal demands.
The opening paragraph of this statement read: “In a country where there is clearly a violation of human rights, as evident by the imprisonment of religious and political activists and the lack of political, ethnic or religious liberties. The lack of attention to the legal and rational demands of every political prisoner is not surprising. Despite the numerous and various prolonged strikes in Iranian prisons to attract the attention of the world to the oppression in Iran, judicial and security officials ignore their please of prisoners. After being on hunger strike for more than 55 days, a Sunni prisoner of conscience known as Hamza Darwish has been asking for his case to be reviewed, but the political prisoner have not paid any attention to the demands of this political prisoner.”
“According to which law and citizenship rights, officials ignore a prisoner going on hunger strike in protest to spending the best years of his life behind the bars in an uncertain situation, deprivation of a retrial through legal procedures in addition to the right to choose a lawyer and defend himself.”
Hamza Darwish, 24 years old, is the son of Mohammad Nasser from Talesh. In an open letter, he has previously explained that he had been deceived by ISIS in 2015 and gone to Turkey from where he had then been transferred to Syria. He has spent some time in ISIS jail in Syria and managed to escape later.
Upon escaping from the ISIS jail, he has gone to Turkey and returned to Iran after obtaining a Courtesy Card from Iran’s Embassy in Turkey, but he was arrested by the security forces and detained at ward 209 of Tehran’s Evin Prison for two months before being released on bail later on July 19, 2015.
“A year after being released on July 10, 2016, I was arrested again and spent 100 days in solitary confinement before being transferred to Section 4 of Evin Prison and I was told that my hearing would be held at Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court on charges of Moharebeh through membership in ISIS and illegally leaving the country. On March 29, 2017, the verdict of 18 years of imprisonment was served on me.”, the prisoner has explained in the open letter regarding his arrest and trial.
The prison authorities have told this religious prisoner that only 15 years of his 18 years of imprisonment sentence are enforceable per Article 134.
