The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran expresses grave concern over the critical health condition of political prisoner Golrokh Iraee after 62 days of hunger strike and lack of knowledge about her whereabouts. The NCRI Women’s Committee urges all international human rights authorities particularly the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Rapporteur on Torture, as well as women’s rights defenders to take urgent, effective action to save the life of this political prisoner and secure her unconditional release.
Ms. Iraee has lost more than 20 kilograms of weight after two months of hunger strike and suffers from kidney complications, low blood pressure and serious physical weakness. She is not able to walk or stand up and has gone into coma several times. On April 4, her condition deteriorated and she was transferred by prison guards to an unannounced hospital.
Ms. Iraee was arrested for writing an unpublished article on the inhuman punishment of stoning and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment on the spurious charge of “insulting the sanctities” and the mullahs’ leader Ali Khamenei.
Golrokh Iraee was brutalized on January 24, 2018, at Evin Prison for her support for the uprising in December and January and subsequently transferred to the notorious Qarchak Prison in Varamin. Women political prisoners in this prison are exposed to insults, humiliation and various forms of harassment.
Ms. Iraee has been on hunger strike since February 3, 2018, in protest to violation of the principle of separation of various prisoners’ categories and her banishment to Qarchak Prison. She demands to be returned to the Women’s Ward of Evin.
Ms. Iraee’s hunger strike has been the longest among women political prisoners.
Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
April 5, 2018
