Alarm Raised Over Health of Political Prisoner on Hunger Strike

Two political prisoners incarcerated in Tehran’s Evin prison have warned about the deteriorating health of fellow inmate Zohreh Sarv, who has been on a hunger strike for more than 10 days.

The plight of Sarv, detailed by Sepideh Qolyian and Mahboobeh Rezaei in a letter obtained by IranWire, outlines a pattern of disregard for prisoners’ rights within the country’s judicial system.

Sarv is serving a six-year prison term on charges of "gathering, colluding and propaganda against the system" stemming from her activities on social media.

She launched her hunger strike on November 23 to protest against the harsh treatment and injustices she has faced since her arrest in October 2021.

Over the past decades, many political prisoners in Iran have suffered from serious medical complications caused by hunger strikes, and some have lost their lives.

In their letter, Qolyian and Rezaei described Sarv as a victim of the "unadulterated corruption of the judiciary."

"Under the unbridled influence of the [Islamic] Revolutionary Guard [Corps] within the judicial system, Sarv's lawyer and herself were denied access to the case file throughout the investigation and trial phases," they wrote.

In the absence of any evidence, the court sentenced Sarv “on the orders of the interrogator," they said, adding that her conditional release has been repeatedly denied despite having served one-third of her sentence.

"The interrogator informed Zohreh that her release hinged upon agreeing to work for the IRGC in Iraq," the letter reads.

For 27 months, Sarv has not been able to meet her 75-year-old mother, who is unable to leave the house due to her old age and a hip fracture. The old woman has been attended by a nurse during her daughter’s imprisonment.