The continued hunger strike of Kamal Lotfi, the imprisoned father of one of the victims of the recent anti-government protests in Dehgolan, Kurdistan province, has raised concerns about his condition.
Lotfi has been on hunger strike since 18 May in protest at his continued imprisonment.
In recent days, the civilian’s fellow prisoners have contacted his family and informed them of Lotfi’s deteriorating health, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned.
The Kamyaran prison authorities have so far ignored the prisoners’ demands.
Since the hunger strike began, his family has only been able to visit him once, in coordination with prison authorities, to persuade him to end the strike.
On 28 May, the authorities at Kamyaran Prison contacted Lotfi’s family and asked them to visit him in prison.
When the family arrived at the prison they were told that he was on day ten of his hunger strike and that the visit was conditional on the family trying to persuade Lotfi to end it.
Despite losing weight and suffering from low blood pressure, Lotfi told his family that he would not end his hunger strike.
He insisted that he would continue his hunger strike in protest at his continued detention, telling his family that he would “either be released or die in prison”.
Lotfi was arrested in Dehgolan on 16 April and taken to the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province.
It was later reported that Lotfi had been transferred to Kamyaran Prison at the end of April after initial interrogation at the Ministry of Intelligence, but after his family visited the prison, the prison authorities denied the news.
Lotfi’s son, Reza Lotfi, was killed by special forces during the protests in Dehgolan on 19 September 2022.
After their son was killed, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) threatened and pressured the family to give a television interview blaming the Kurdish opposition for their son’s death.
As the pressure continued, the father released a video announcing that his son had been shot by the military forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
