The Islamic authorities have arrested Mehdi Khazali seven times and spent a total of 258 days on hunger strike whilst in detention. He was released in 2014 on medical grounds.
Name: Mehdi Khazali
Born: 1965, Qom, Iran
Career: Blogger, physician, Islamic scholar, political activist and director of the Hayyan Cultural Institute and Publications.
Charges: Activities against national security and disturbing the public mind. Released on medical grounds.
Mehdi Khazali is the son of Ayatollah Abolghasem Khazali, a former member of the Assembly of Experts and a staunch supporter of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Unlike his father, he was fiercely critical of Ahmadinejad and other fundamentalists via his blog, making him one of the most widely discussed bloggers in Iran.
Khazali’s stance on various political and social issues meant his candidacy for the Iranian parliament was rejected by the Guardian Council, which approves candidates before they can run for election. Even his father said he was unfit for parliament.
Khazali has been arrested seven times over the years. In the run-up to the disputed presidential election of 2009, he published a controversial blog about Ahmadinejad that led to him being summoned by the Special Clerical Court; he was arrested and sent to Evin Prison on June 29, 2009. “I don’t know what spirituality they have seen in me that they have summoned me to the Special Clerical Court,” he blogged after receiving the summons, playing on the word “spiritual,” a synonym for the clergy in Iran. “No matter how many times I tell them that I‘m just physical they don’t believe me. But let us say that I am ‘spiritual’, but I am not a mullah and have never worn the garb. I haven’t been in the garb even for a moment.”
Khazali was released on bail on July 22, 2010 but then was re-summoned to Branch 4 of the Revolutionary Court on October 13 and arrested. Although he was re-released on bail a month later, this would not to be the last time.
On July 18, 2011 he was arrested again and released on bail the following week. During this time, he wrote a letter to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, in which he stated his readiness to inform him “once a week” of the issues confronting society and its people. “You’re free to accept this request,” he wrote, “or send me back to solitary confinement.”
Having posted a comical blog about Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the chairman of the Guardian Council, Khazali was arrested yet again, on January 9, 2012. During his arrest, security forces beat him, breaking his arm and several teeth. He immediately went on hunger strike, losing a total of 16 kilos and suffering a stomach hemorrhage. He was taken to the in-house clinic at Evin Prison but refused to end his hunger strike.
On day 40 of his strike, Khazali had a heart attack and was transferred to Taleghani Hospital in Tehran. Then, on February 15, his wife and daughter were arrested to further pressurize him into ending the strike, but he failed to comply. Four days later, security forces moved him to an unknown location without obtaining the hospital’s permission.
He continued his hunger strike for another 64 days until he was released on bail on the orders of Ayatollah Khamenei. While he was on hunger strike, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison by Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court presided over by Judge Pir Abbasi. He was also charged with 10 years of forced residence in the city of Borazjan and 90 lashes upon his release.
Following the verdict, he was arrested and spent three months in prison before being granted a furlough. On June 20, 2013 he was detained and sent to the notorious Rajaei Shahr Prison in Karaj near Tehran. Once again he went on hunger strike and had to be hospitalized due to medical complications. The doctors said his continued hunger strikes were life threatening and Khazali was released.
After giving an interview with Voice of America about Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, the former chairman of the Assembly of Experts who died in October, Khazali was re-arrested with his wife and daughter on June 20, 2014 whilst driving to the resort town of Mahmoud Abad. Intelligence Ministry agents without an arrest warrant took him to Ward 2 of Rajaei Shahr Prison, which holds prisoners on death row.
At this point Khazali returned to his hunger strike and needed to be hospitalized on June 29. Doctors said he had survived two heart attacks but that his condition was critical. He was eventually released from prison on June 29 for medical reasons.
Khazali has spent a total of 258 days on hunger strike whilst in detention.
For more information, visit Journalism is Not a Crime, documenting cases of jailed journalists in Iran.
This is part of IranWire’s series Crime: Journalism, a portfolio on the legal and political persecution of Iranian journalists and bloggers, published in both Persian and English.
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