Kurdish political prisoner Abdolaziz Gol-Mohammadi is now in the 19th day of his hunger strike in the infirmary of the Orumiyeh Central Prison, West Azerbaijan Province.
Despite the severity of his physical condition and the prison authorities’ agreement to grant him temporary leave, the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) continues to oppose his request.
Since he began the hunger strike, Gol-Mohammadi has experienced a significant drop in blood pressure and severe physical weakness.
The prison medical staff, alarmed by his critical physical condition, attributed it to significant weight loss and a history of stomach bleeding, and declared his ongoing hunger strike a dangerous health risk.
In recent days, a supervising judge and prison officials conducted meetings with the political prisoner at Orumiyeh Central Prison.
They informed Gol-Mohammadi that the Classification Council has already twice approved his request for temporary leave, adding that in cases of this nature, the final verdict rests with the detaining security entity, which, in this instance, is the IRGC’s Intelligence Organisation.
As of now, the IRGC’s intelligence service remains in opposition to his plea for temporary leave, exacerbating concerns about his health and well-being.
Initially, the prisoner was on a dry hunger strike for the first five days. After being transferred to the infirmary and receiving assurances from the prison authorities that his demands would be considered, he ended the dry hunger strike.
Instead, he declared his intention to continue with a traditional hunger strike until his request for temporary leave is granted.
Background
On 6 October 2019, while Gol-Mohammadi, a Kurdish civilian from Orumiyeh, who had been detained in Orumiyeh Central Prison for several months on non-political charges, was transferred to the IRGC’s Intelligence Organisation’s Al-Mahdi Garrison detention facility.
Gol-Mohammadi and four other Kurdish civilians, Omid Saeidi, Kamran Ghassemi, Nayeb (Masoud) Hajizadeh, and Keyvan Rashozadeh, who were arrested on 8 October 2019, were interrogated for two months on charges of “membership of a Kurdish opposition party”.
There was no prior connection between Gol-Mohammadi and the other four civilians in the case.
After a year of legal limbo, in December 2020, Branch Two of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh sentenced each of the five civilians to 10 years and one day in prison.
The court accused them of “acting against national security” through their alleged “membership” of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan.
After Gol-Mohammadi appealed the verdict, the case was referred to the Supreme Court and, after some time, the verdict was upheld by Branch 41 of the Supreme Court.
On 26 January 2021, Gol-Mohammadi was released on bail of 10 billion rials – nearly 20,000 USD – but was re-arrested seven months later, in August 2021, to serve the sentence.
