Two statements by Arash Hampay about the 32nd day of his hungerstrike and the 33rd day of the hunger strike by Moria prisoners Kozhin Hussein and Bahrooz Arash.

Image by Arash Hampay Facebook profile

Originally published at Arash Hampay Facebook profile.

Read all our articles about the hunger strike; here.

Note: Enough is Enough is not organizing any of these events, we are publishing this text for people across the US and Europe to be able to see what is going on and for documentation only.

Statement 1 by Arash Hampay, July 30.

Lesvos, Greece – Today marks the 33rd day of a hunger strike by imprisoned asylum seekers on the island and Day 12 of the Solidarity Activists Lesvos #freedomstrikelesvos in solidarity with their call for justice, freedom and dignity.

On 28 June, four men imprisoned in the Moria Detention Centre in Lesvos began a hunger strike to protest their arbitrary arrest and imprisonment in gross violation of International, EU and Greek law. Arash Hampay, the brother of one the prisoners, joined them the following day.

Together, they demand the immediate release of asylum seekers in administrative detention and seek to raise awareness of the brutal violation of the rights of asylum seekers indefinitely trapped on Lesvos, facing deprivation, humiliation, psychological and physical abuse, arbitrary arrest and detention at the hands of European and Greek authorities.

Despite the prisoners’ deteriorating health, authorities have refused to meet with them. Instead, they have they have routinely confiscated the prisoners’ phones, subjected them to quotidian abuse, denied them visitation rights and access to medical care together with the basics necessary to continue their protest (water, salt, sugar, sanitary equipment).

A week ago, Amir Hampay was released from prison by court order after 24 days on hunger strike and three months in prison. Khozin Hussein and Bahrooz Arash remain imprisoned, and their conditions are worsening: Khozin Hussein has lost 13 kg since the beginning of his hunger strike; Bahrooz Arash now weighs 43 kg, having lost 17.

Arash Hampay and Solidarity Activists Lesvos will continue their hunger strike in solidarity with their call for justice, freedom and dignity. The hunger strikers are calling on activists overseas to show their support by fasting for 24 hours and publicising their action on social media with #freedomstrikelesvos, holding the attached poster.

A few night ago, Arash Hampay had a message for Greek and European authorities: “we shall strike against you as we struck against injustice in our own countries. Just as we did not keep silent there, we shall not keep silent here… You can strike with your swords, your whips, your prisons but we shall strike with our pens and our torches. We do not strike with swords where there is darkness in order to show our strength, we strike matches to light candles. Our pens and our torches are more powerful than your swords. We know and you know that in the we will defeat you…We are the people: you are the government. And the food of victory will, as always, be eaten by the people… Kozhin Hussein and Bahrooz Arash have been hunger striking for [33] days. They will be released as Amir Hampay was released. From this you will inherit only shame.

We insist on our promise. We will continue our hunger strike untill the day Bahrooz and Kozhin are released.”

Statement 2 by Arash Hampay, July 30.

Today marks the 33rd day of Kozhin Hussein and Behrooz Arash’s hunger strike. They are two Kurdish refugees and their wounds have yet to heal. They have sought refuge from you yet you rub salt in their wounds. You have stabbed their bleeding and weakened bodies once again. I am now coming to the end of my 32nd day of hunger strike which, I am doing in solidarity with them. I am doing this strike in the central square of Mytilini to amplify their voices. I also do this to demonstrate solidarity and to amplify the voices of other people who are suffering, who are innocent, and who have been put in chains. I am here to shout into your deaf ears in order to wake you from your ignorance and to end this oppression.

We do not want to die.

Death does not concern us.

We die while standing. We die while fighting against the injust oppression committed upon us. You oppress us for the sole reason tha we seek a better life. We do not kneel under your oppression. We do not want to live in submission. Living in submission is equal to real death. A life of joy and submission that you so-called “lovers of life” have chosen is not for us.

We want freedom. We do not ask this from you as beggars. We demand our freedom back from you. We did not flee our cage only to be put into another cage. We did not escape from the abyss of a dictatorship and war to be thrown into the abyss of prison and humiliation. Quit your Machiavellist policies. Respect freedom, equality and humanity. Quit your dishonour. The least you can do is release these two wounded youths from your prison. Behrooz and Kozhin are not alone. We won´t leave them alone. We are with them. We are the countless, we are the people, we stand against you. We will keep on standing until you stand with us instead of against us.

You did not inherit this power. The people have given you this power, and it is a power that is utterly fallacious. You have to respect the people who ultimately are indeed your superiors. You are answerable to them. You do not have the right to dispossess them from their freedom. You do not have the right to oppress them. You may say that Behrooz and Kozhin are refugees. You may say that they do not belong to your people. However, people cannot and should not be divided. People should simply be seen as people. The government has to respect people, and it has to provide people with peace and freedom. We are the people, we are humans, and it is inhumane to label a refugee with a barcode. I repeat, we are humans, we are not products, and we should not be marked with barcodes and labels. You cannot use barcodes and labels to divide people.

To the government, the police, and the fake UN!, you should treat your superiors, the people, with respect and dignity. To the “United Nations” who have included the word “Nations” in your title, I urge you to create harmony and peace for the people and not simply for states. Be the Servant of the People, not the slave of the states. You have labelled us with the term ‘Refugee’, however, this does not mean that we do not deserve freedom and just treatment. Open the doors of your prisons and let us go. Open the doors of your schools so that we can cultivate and educate ourselves. We do not want to be in your prisons. We want to enjoy your beautiful green gardens.

Our pens have not given up despite our hunger, our fatigue, and our bleeding wounds. You know the power of the pen and the oppressed voice. Have you not seen that although you have put Behrooz and Aresh in prison, the people have channelled their voice?

We will hold true with our vow. We will continue our hunger strike until the day of freedom, and we will break it far from the prison. I will only accept food from the hands of Behrooz and Kozhin, and from the hands of my comrades at CAFE P.

Images by Arash Hampay Facebook profile

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