Source: www.kaleme.com

A group of families of political prisoners gathered in front of the office of the General Prosecutor in protest to not getting any information about the situation of their loved ones especially those political prisoners who have gone on hunger strike in protest to the inhuman treatment of the prison authorities since few days ago. The families of the political prisoners demanded to meet with the General Prosecutor and asked for an end to the inhuman and brutal treatments against their loved ones in prison. According to reports the families of political prisoners gathered in silence for about two hours but the General Prosecutor did not agree to meet with them. The families of political prisoners after they became hopeless to meet with the General Prosecutor in protest started chanting "God is great" and moved toward the office of the Tehran Judiciary to express their concerns regarding the well-being of their loved ones there.

On last Monday a group of political prisoner in the ward # 350 of Evin prison protested to the inhuman and insulting behavior of the prison guards and in response 17 protesting political prisoners were transferred to the solitary confinement and all communication channels between the prisoners and the outside world have been cut. The 17 political prisoners who have been transferred to the solitary confinement have gone on hunger strike in protest since then and their families are very concerned about their health conditions given that all communications have been cut and they have no information about the situations of their loved ones.

In the past few days none of these political prisoners were allowed to make phone calls and all visits have been cancelled. Therefore in protest to these conditions a group of families of political prisoners who were mostly the families of the prisoners detained in ward # 350 Evin prison gathered in front of the office of the General Prosecutor. They were holding the photos of their loved ones and some banners demanding an end to these brutal behaviors by prison authorities.

Father of Hamed Rouhinejad, the young political prisoner suffering from Multiple Sclerosis (MS), who was also present in today's gathering of the families of the political prisoners said: "The heath condition of Hamed is not good at all and he is his sight is getting weaker every day." Hamed was sentenced to death in the initial court ruling but following the wide-spread protest by the human rights organizations his sentence was reduced to 10 years in prison. Today his worried father said: "They are killing Hamed little by little. I cannot stand this anymore. I cannot see him in pain anymore. He himself cannot stand it anymore as well. They are killing him little by little."

Mother of Hossein Ezami, another political prisoner who was arrested in the aftermath of the rigged presidential election, also complains about the horrible condition of the ward # 350 of Evin prison and said: "Our children are denied access to water for about 10 hours each day. They have been told to have only one bottle of water and use that throughout the day. Now it has been a week that we have no information about our children. We don't know how they are doing."

Mother of Ali Parviz, other political prisoner who was transferred to the solitary confinement and is on hunger strike, said: "The prison authorities are putting pressure on political prisoners by denying them their right to make phone calls and cancelling all visits. The families are also under pressure. In these blackout days we constantly think of any possible scenario in our minds and not knowing how are kids are doing is suffering us."

The wife of another political prisoner had a banner in her hand which read: "Free my husband"

The families of political prisoner had the photos of the 17 political prisoners who have gone on hunger strike after they were transferred to solitary confinement. Some of these political prisoners are: Ali Malihi (student activist and member of the Tahkim-Vahdat Organization), Bahman Ahmadi Omavi (journalist), Hossein Nourinejad (journalist and member of the Participation Front), Abdollah Momeni (student activist and spokesman of Tahkim-Vahdat Organization), Ali Parviz (student activist), Hamid Reza Mohammadi (political activist), Jafar Eghdami (civil activist), Babak Bordbar (photo journalist), Ziya Nabavi (student activist), Ebrahim Babai (civil activist and veteran of the Iran-Iraq war), Koohyar Goudarzi (human rights activist and blogger), Majid Dari (student activist), Majid Tavakoli (student activist), Keyvan Samimi (journalist) as well as Gholamhossein Arashi, Peyman Karimi and Mohammad Hossein Sarabi-Raad ( who were all arrested during the peaceful protests following the rigged presidential elections).

The families of the political prisoners who were gathered in front of the office of the General Prosecutor in protest today signed an open letter addressed to the General Prosecutor, Jafari Dolat-Abadi, in which they stated that their demands is what their loved ones demanded in prison and also asked for the apology by the prison authorities because of their insulting and inhuman behaviors. They also asked to be able to meet with their loved ones as soon as possible, getting information about the physical and physiological conditions of their loves one as well as immediate medical assistance for Peyman Karimi-Azad who following his hunger strike and due to his critical health condition was transferred to the hospital.

The representatives of the political prisoner handed a copy of this letter to the office of the General Prosecutor. In part of this letter it reads: "We the families of political prisoner detained in ward # 350 of Evin prison, once again warn you regarding the inhuman treatment of our loved ones and announce that if this situation is not resolved soon we keep this right preserved for ourselves to support our loved ones in protesting to the above the law behaviors of the prison authorities and violations of the citizen and legal rights of our loved ones by other peaceful means such as joining our loved ones in their hunger strike."

... Payvand News - 08/01/10 ... --