A prisoner sentenced to Qisas (Retaliation in kind) on murder charge, who has spent about 10 years at Tabriz central prison, has been on hunger strike for the past week in protest to his uncertain situation.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has been informed that Hassan Nozad, 38 years old, from Maragheh, has been on hunger strike since Monday, November 12 due to his uncertain situation after 10 years of imprisonment at Ward 9 of Tabriz Central Prison. He was arrested and sentenced to Qisas in 2008 on charges of murder.
A reliable source told KHRN that, the Qisas verdict was issued 10 years ago but the victim’s family are neither willing show leniency nor enforce the execution of the prisoner. In such a situation, the prisoner has gone on a hunger strike and ask for either his release or execution because he cannot bear being in prison without knowing the outcome of his case.
It is noteworthy that hundreds of prisoners sentenced to death are currently serving a long time in different prisons waiting in uncertainty because there is no legal deadline for determining the outcome of death sentences.
