Detained Kurdish civilians Vahid Chavaran, Mohammad Hossein Haaseli, and Nasser Rezaei sewed their lips together in the pre-trial detention centre of Ilam Prison, one day after starting a hunger strike.
The Kurdish civilians, along with Bakhtiar Mohammadzadeh, a detained civilian from Darreh Shahr in Ilam Province, began their hunger strike on 3 September in protest at their continued detention.
Today, in response to the authorities’ neglect of their demands, they escalated their protest by sewing their lips together.
Rezaei, from Abdanan, Ilam Province, was arrested on 13 August after being summoned to the court in Dehloran, Ilam Province. He was also briefly detained by security forces on 22 May.
Haaseli, from Sarabbagh in Ilam Province, was arrested by security forces on 26 July.
Chavaran, a mountaineer from Sarabbagh, was arrested by security forces while attempting to leave the country on 23 June and taken to the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Ilam.
Following interrogation in recent weeks, he was transferred to Ilam Prison’s pre-trial detention centre.
Mohammadzadeh, the manager of a pharmacy in Darreh Shahr, was arrested on 29 August after being summoned to the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Ilam. He is currently on the second day of a hunger strike.
