Evin Prisoners Announce Hunger Strike in Solidarity with “Uprising”

Two university students jailed in Tehran’s Evin prison have announced they would start a hunger strike on September 16, which will mark the first anniversary since Mahsa Amini's death in police custody. 

In a statement released on social media, Ali Younesi and Amir Hossein Moradi said that they were launching their hunger strike "in solidarity with the uprising of the people of Iran." 

"An uprising is underway, an uprising for freedom, an uprising to dismantle any form of dictatorship, whether it wears a crown or a turban," they said. 

Five other political and civil activists incarcerated in Evin prison – Mostafa Tajzadeh, Saeed Madani, Hossein Razzaq, Mehdi Mahmoudian and Mohammad Najafi – have announced their intention to join the hunger strike. 

Younesi and Moradi are both students in physics at Sharif University of Technology. At the 2017 National Astronomy Olympiad, they won the gold and silver medals, respectively. 

The two students have been held in Evin prison since their arrest in April 2020.