Prisoners Mehdi Bagheri and Kiyoumars Vaezi went on a hunger strike on 8 March at Kermanshah Central Prison (Dizel Abad Prison) to protest against the Ministry of Intelligence’s interference in their case’s judicial process.
According to the Coordinating Council of Iranian Educators’ Trade Associations, the two prisoners stated that they were striking to protest against the involvement of security institutions in judicial proceedings relating to their case.
Vaezi, a retired teacher and labour activist, was recently sentenced by Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Sonqor, presided over by Judge Sadegh Tariverdi, to four years and one year in prison respectively on charges of “assembly and collusion against national security” and “propaganda against the state”.
Bagheri and Vaezi were arrested by security forces on 5 January during the January 2026 protests, and were transferred to Dizel Abad Prison in Kermanshah after initial interrogation.
Vaezi had previously been arrested during the “Women, Life, Freedom” uprising in 2022.
After 27 years of teaching, he was dismissed from his job through a forced retirement order and later sentenced by Kermanshah’s Islamic Revolutionary Court to six years in prison on charges of “propaganda against the state” and “inciting and provoking people”.
