Kurdish political prisoner “Bashir Pirmawanah” has been on hunger strike since January 25 in protest to the refusal of prison officials to grant him conditional release. Seven other political prisoners Kamran Darvishi, Siamak Ashrafi, Kamran Ghasemi, Keyvan Rashozadeh, Omid Saeedi, Keyvan Zarei and Reza Ismail are also on hunger strike following their request to be transferred to separate cell from Prisoners of Ordinary Crimes held in the youth ward.

Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has been informed that Bashir Pirmawanah has been suffering from weight loss and dizziness during this time but he is continuing his hunger strike until prison officials agree with his demands.

Bashir Pirmawanah was arrested in March 2016 by security forces in Orumiyeh and sentenced to five years in prison on charges of collaboration with a Kurdish opposition party. The five-year imprisonment sentence was later reduced to four years per the law of ‘Submission to the Verdict”. Moreover, Three political prisoners Keyvan Rashouzadeh, Kamran Qasemi and Kamran Darvishi have been transferred to solitary confinement since February 23 while being handcuffed and Leg-cuffed in addition to being deprived of contact and visits with their family.

These three prisoners and four other political prisoners Siamak Ashrafi, Omid Saeedi, Keyvan Zarei and Reza Esmaili have been on hunger since February 22, in protest to non-compliance with the Law of Separation of Crimes in the prison and lack of a separate cell for the political prisoners in the youth ward.

On Monday, January 24, there was a clash between the Kurdish and Azeri prisoners provoked by Sayyed Fatemi (the officer in charge of the youth ward). However, in support of Ordinary Crime prisoners, the special guards beat up Kurdish political prisoners instead of calming the situation and transferred the prisoners to the quarantine section.