The physical condition of political prisoner Varisha Moradi has reportedly become dire and concerning as she enters her 16th day on a hunger strike. Moradi began her open-ended hunger strike on October 10, 2024, protesting the escalation of death sentences, her prolonged detention, and the denial of family and attorney visits.
Since mid-May 2024, Varisha Moradi has been barred from in-person visits and phone calls with her family and legal counsel. Her first court session was held on June 17, 2024; however, her attorneys were prohibited from presenting a defense.
The second hearing, initially scheduled for August 4, 2024, in Branch 15 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, did not proceed, as Moradi refused to attend in protest of the death sentences handed down to two political prisoners, Sharifeh Mohammadi and Pakhshan Azizi. A subsequent hearing, scheduled for August 28, 2024, was also postponed due to the absence of both the prosecutor’s representative and the judge.
In early February 2024, the 5th Branh of the Public and Revolutionary Court of Tehran charged Varisha Moradi with Bagh-y or “armed insurgency,” for membership in a Kurdish opposition party. This is a very heavy charge which can carry long prison terms and even the death sentence.
She was transferred from Ward 209 to the women’s ward of Evin Prison after the end of her interrogations on December 26, 2023.
Varisha was abducted by security forces on August 1, 2023, in Kermanshah, on her way to Sanandaj in western Iran. Ms. Moradi was denied the right to her chosen lawyer and due process. She was only allowed to call the lawyer after an indictment was issued. She was only allowed to see her family once during her six months of incarceration.
Reports say Varisha spent the first five months of incarceration in solitary confinement in the detention center of the Department of Intelligence in Sanandaj and Ward 209 in Evin Prison where she was viciously tortured to make false confessions against herself.
Varisha Moradi is a women’s rights activist and a member of the Free Women’s Society of Eastern Kurdistan (KJAR). In a September 26 statement addressed to the public, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran and international human rights organizations, KJAR said Varisha Moradi was in Kurdistan to carry out “political activities and to organize women.”
