One of the longest serving political prisoners in Iran, Mohammad Nazari has been taken to a clinic after losing more than 25 kilos (55 pounds).
Mohammad Nazari, who has been on hunger strike for the past eighty-one days, has lost his voice and can hardly walk, human rights websites reported on Friday, October 20.
“I am the loneliest prisoner in this city [Rajaee Shahr prison]. Despite 81 days of hunger strike, no one has listened and helped me in this city”, Nazari has lamented in a letter reflected in human rights websites and social media.
Nazari’s life could “end in tragedy” due to a prolonged hunger strike, a source with knowledge about his case told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).
“He has been refusing food since July 30, [2017], to demand a review of his case that could result in his freedom,” said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “But he has no lawyer or family members to help him.”
The source added that Nazari was taken to the clinic in Rajaee Shahr Prison, located west of Tehran, “a couple of times and received IV shots, but he is being ignored by the officials and that could result in a terrible tragedy.”
“He is in a very bad condition,” said the source. “He has all sorts of physical problems and emotional issues. Losing his teeth is the least of his problems caused by the lack of medical attention.”
Don’t abandon me,” pleaded Nazari in his letter. “I don’t have anyone. My father, mother and brother were laid to rest years ago... Your helping hand is my only hope. Help me. Help me so that my voice can be heard. Help me gain the freedom I am legally entitled to.”
Nazari has been behind bars for the past 24 years in several prisons in cities of Mahabad, Urmia, and Rajaee Shahr (Gohardasht) without any leave of absence.
“Now, in the 24th year of my imprisonment, I am alone, with no one to rely on,” he has written, adding, “I am on hunger strike because I have no options left.”
Nazari was arrested in city of Bukan, West Azarbaijan province, 24 years ago when he was 23. He was condemned to death for allegedly being a member of Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdestan (PDKI). Later, in 1999, he received a pardon that reduced his sentence to life imprisonment.
The informed source who spoke to CHRI has noted that after the penal code was amended in 2013, membership in the PDKI was no longer considered a crime.
Nevertheless, Nazari, now 47, is still behind bars.
“Don’t abandon me,” pleaded Nazari in his letter. “I don’t have anyone. My father, mother and brother were laid to rest years ago in the cemetery in Boukan. Your helping hand is my only hope. Help me. Help me so that my voice can be heard. Help me gain the freedom I am legally entitled to.”
In his letter, Nazari who is an ethnic Iranian Azeri Turk insists that he is seeking nothing, but justice, “I want neither freedom nor a furlough; I want the law to be enforced.
According to the law, I should have been released four and a half years ago. But the invisible hands of power and security have prevented the implementation of this law. Now, after 24 years in prison, while I am completely alone and left with nothing, I have no choice but to go on hunger strike”.
According to several of his former inmates, the fact that Nazari is an ethnic Azeri Shi’ite accused of supporting a Sunni Kurd Party (PDKI) has aggravated the sensitivity of his case.
“Help me reach my legal right to freedom that they have deprived me of. Anything other than my release, and I will continue my strike until I too pass away and buried in Bukan cemetery where my family is” Nazari has concluded his letter.