Rahmi Turgut and Kamran Darwishi, two Kurdish political prisoners held in Orumiyeh Central Prison, ended their hunger strike on Aug 28, 2019.

According to the information obtained by Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), Rahmi Turgut, a Kurdish citizen of Turkey who had been on hunger strike since July 22, 2019 in protest against the refusal of authorities to grant him conditional release or transfer him to a prison near his parents’ place of residence, ended his hunger strike on Wednesday after meeting with Ghazi “the prison supervisor” who promised him that prison authorities would agree with his request for a conditional release.

Rahmi Rurgut suffered severe weight loss and hypotension during his 37 day hunger strike. He was unable to move in the final days and his cellmates helped him to fulfill his basic needs in addition to taking him to the prison’s health clinic.

Kamran Darwishi, who had been on a hunger strike by sewing his lips since Aug 15 in protest against the refusal of authorities to grant him conditional release, was transferred to Razi Hospital in Orumiyeh after two weeks for check up. Prison officials have told the political prisoner that he would be released if the Department of Forensic Medicine affirms that he was unable to bear imprisonment.

During a visit from the ward of the political prisoners in Orumiyeh Prison, the general manager of the West Azarbaijan Prisons mentioned that the demands of these prisoners would be taken into consideration if they ended their hunger strike.

Two political and religious prisoners known as Mustafa Sabzi and Ghader Salimi have also ended their hunger strike upon promise of prison authorities to transfer them to the prison of the city in which their families live.

Rahmi Turgut, a Kurdish citizen of Turkey, was arrested by security forces in June 2017 and sentenced to five years of imprisonment on charges of cooperation with a Kurdish party following his visit to Orumiyeh.

Kamran Darwishi, a Kurdish civilian from Orumiyeh, was arrested by security forces in Orumiyeh on May 2, 2016. He was interrogated for two months at the Ministry of Intelligence Detention Centre in Orumiyeh. In November, he was sentenced to 5 years in prison by the Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh, chaired by Judge Sheikhlo, on charges of cooperating with one of the Kurdish opposition parties. This political prisoner was arrested on charges of membership of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and sentenced to five years in prison in 2011 but he was granted c conditional after spending 3 years in prison,