Abubakr Rostami, a Kurdish political prisoner on death row in Zahedan prison, began hunger strike after being transferred to the quarantine. Moreover, Tohid Qureishi and Hamza Darwish, two prisoners of conscience detained in Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj who had been transferred to a solitary confinement cell after being attacked by security forces on Monday, have gone on hunger strike.
Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has been informed that Abubakr Rostami, a Sunni religious prisoner on death row, started his hunger strike on Saturday February 02 in protest to being transferred to the quarantine unit of the prison by the order of Mohammad Hossein Khosravi, head of the Zahedan Central Prison, for unknown reasons.
The religious prisoner had earlier gone on a one-week dry hunger strike on Oct 25, 2017 in protest to his unfair sentence.
Regarding the latest situation of prisoners held in Rajaee Shahr prison in Karaj, a reliable source has told KHRN that eight prisoners at Rajai Shahr Prison were transferred to the solitary confinement cells after being beaten by the Special Guard Forces who raided hall 21 of ward 7 where these Sunni prisoners are held and beat them. After a few hours, six of these prisoners were returned to the ward.
“Sayyid Tohid Qureshi and Hamza Darwish are in solitary confinement with handcuff and shackle. They are on hunger strike in protest to violent behaviour of the special guards yesterday,” the source added.
Following the attempt of Sunni prisoners to prevent the transfer of Tohid Qureshi to the court, Special Guard forces targeted the prisoners in hall 21 in ward 7 at Rajai Shahr Prison by tear gas while beating them and transferring some of the prisoners to solitary confinement cells.
Following the refusal of Tohid Qureshi to attend the trial and the support of other prisoners, 200 special guard and security forces stormed into the ward of Religious Prisoners with tear gas, beat and injured some of these prisoners severely and transferred some of them to solitary confinement cells on the morning of Wednesday, February 06. In addition to demolishing the properties of these prisoners, the special guard forces beat them up.
