Reported by PMOI/MEK
Iran, July 19, 2019 – According to reports from Iran, 35 Sunni political prisoner and prisoners of conscience in the notorious Gohardasht Prison, located in the city of Karaj, northwest of the capital Tehran, have started a hunger strike.
These prisoners are held in the Hall no. 36 of Ward no. 10 of Gohardasht (Rajaie-Shahr) Prison. They are protesting the authorities’ abuse of the prisoners and ignoring their problems such as lack of space, not being allowed to telephone their families and loved ones, deprivation of light and clean air, and being locked up inside their cells without being allowed to go outside for fresh air.
They started their hunger strike since Monday, July 15th and said they will continue with their strike until their demands of being transferred to a larger hall and receive adequate allowance and facilities are met.
Hall 36 of Ward 10 of Gohardasht Prison, which provides for 35 Sunni political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, has only two small rooms. These 35 inmates are kept in hot summer temperatures with unsafe and unsanitary conditions. They suffer both from lack of adequate space to stretch and lie down, enduring increased psychological pressures.
The Gohardasht prison is one of the most notorious penitentiaries in Iran and is one of the places where prisoners from other parts of Iran are brought for execution.
In a span of fewer than 3 months in the summer of 1988, thousands of political prisoners as young as 13 years old, girls and boys, were executed in this prison following a short few minutes kangaroo courts. Those political prisoners were supporters or members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, known as PMOI/MEK. Their only crime was to support this group. Many of those prisoners had already finished their prison term and were kept inside in excess of their sentence. The graves and the identity of many of those executed brutally are yet to be discovered.
Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, a city about 30 km northwest of the capital Tehran has 3 separate halls. These halls include Hall no 21 of ward 7, Hall no 36 of ward 10, and Hall no 11 of Ward 4. These halls have been home to hundreds of political prisoners including Sunni prisoners and prisoners of conscience. As far as it has been revealed, there are approximately 36 prisoners in Hall no 11, about 35 prisoners in Hall no. 36 and about 21 prisoners in Hall no. 11.
