Authorities in Orumiyeh prison, Iran’s northwestern West Azerbaijan province, transferred Kurdish activist Mohammad Houshangi to solitary confinement on the fourth day of his hunger strike on 26 February.
Houshangi has been on a hunger strike since 23 February, protesting against his long detention and the objection of the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to his temporary release despite the payment of bail.
He has also been denied the right to communicate with his family and receive visits by his family after being transferred to solitary confinement.
In the past few weeks, after more than a year of Houshangi’s temporary detention, Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Mahabad, West Azerbaijan province, informed the family of the activist that the bail amount for his temporary detention had been reduced to two billion Tomans – nearly 80,000 USD.
The family, who reside in a village in Javanrud, Kermanshah province, travelled several times to Mahabad and took the necessary administrative steps for providing the bail for the release of their son.
While the family was expecting Houshangi’s release on 16 February, the Islamic Revolutionary Court told them that his detention would continue due to the opposition of the Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC and continuing investigations.
On 10 January 2021, the Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC arrested Houshangi in Tehran during a wave of widespread arrests of Kurdish activists and civilians.
They took the activist to the Haft-e Tir detention centre of the security institution in Orumiyeh.
After six months, he was transferred to Orumiyeh Central Prison following the issuance of a temporary arrest warrant.
