Kurdish political prisoner Keyvan Rashozadeh has entered the 12th day of a hunger strike in Orumiyeh Central Prison, in West Azerbaijan Province, raising concerns over his deteriorating physical condition, according to his mother, Nazdar Roudsaz.
In a video message, Roudsaz revealed that her son had been subjected to torture in recent days, including beatings by prison guards after his hands and feet were tied.
Rashouzadeh was transferred from solitary confinement to a secure ward in the prison on 27 April, marking the 10th day of his hunger strike. He was later returned to solitary confinement after announcing a dry hunger strike the following day.
In her video message, Roudsaz, holding the prisoner’s young son, said: “I am the mother of Keyvan Rashozadeh. They sentenced him to seven years and six months in prison. He has served five years of his sentence, but no one cares about his condition. When I go to the supervising judge, he ignores me. When I go to the Ministry of Intelligence, they say they have no information and will not intervene, adding that the prison director and the supervising judge are aware of his condition. In the last few days, my son has tried to check on his condition, but the prison authorities have beaten him. Prison guards came, tied his hands and feet and beat him. They broke his neck, head and hands. Since then he has not eaten or drunk anything. Keyvan’s father is ill, Keyvan himself is in prison, and this child’s mother is also ill. We are left without a guardian. We are innocent, but no one sees our pain. We do not know what to do.”
Rashozadeh, who has been imprisoned since October 2019, has only been granted one temporary leave, for a few days last year. His applications for further leave and conditional release have been rejected.
The political prisoner was transferred to solitary confinement on 17 April after security forces raided the section housing political and religious prisoners and physically assaulted them.
He was then transferred back to the main prison yard, where he was tortured with baton blows by prison guards, as ordered by officials.
Background
On 8 October 2019, security forces arrested Rashozadeh along with four other civilians, Omid Saeidi, Kamran Ghassemi, Nayeb (Massoud) Hajipour and Abdolaziz Gol-Mohammadi.
After a month of interrogation in the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Orumiyeh, these civilians were transferred to the juvenile section of Orumiyeh Central Prison.
In December 2020, after a year of uncertainty in prison, Branch Two of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh sentenced them each to 10 years and one day in prison.
It charged the civilians with “acting against national security” through their membership of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan.
Their sentences were later commuted to seven years and six months.
In December 2020, Rashozadeh, Ghassemi and Saeidi went on a week-long hunger strike to protest against the uncertainty of their situation, the pressure from the Ministry of Intelligence and the failure of the prison authorities to respect the principle of separation of crimes in the juvenile section of Orumiyeh Central Prison.
In June 2022, he also went on hunger strike, sewing his lips shut for several days in protest at the refusal of the prison authorities and the Ministry of Intelligence in Orumiyeh to grant his request for leave.
