15 , June , 2011
In the wake of Hoda Saber’s death, there have been growing concerns about the health and safety of the political prisoners on hunger strike.
According to the Human Rights House of Iran, Mehdi Khodaei, Arash Sadeghi and Ahmad Shahrezaei have been on hunger strike since June 5th. They were supposed to end their strike on June 12th but decided to continue in the wake of Hoda Saber’s death.
Mehdi Khodaie, a human rights activist and the former secretary of the city of Rey’s Islamic Student Union in Azad University was arrested on March 3, 2009 by the IRGC agents and transferred to ward 2A of Evin prison (under the control of the IRGC). He was tried in September 2010 and was sentenced to three years in prison. The sentence was upheld by the Appeals Court.
Back in March 2010, Khodaie was sentenced to four for the charges of “acting against National Security through holding gatherings” and “propaganda against the regime”. This sentence, too, was upheld by the Appeals Court. Overall, he has to serve seven years in prison.
Arash Sadeghi, a member of Mir Hossein Mousavi’s 2009 presidential campaign and a member of the Central Council of Allameh Tabatabai University’s Islamic Student Union, was sentenced to five years in prison after several arrests, continued assaults and beatings, and transfers to solitary confinement cells in ward 209 of Evin prison. Moreover, as a result of the raid conducted by the Islamic Republic’s security agents on Arash Sadeghi’s home to arrest him, his mother suffered a heart attack and died.
Ahmad Shah Rezaie has been sentenced to three years in prison. The sentence was reduced to 18 months by the Appeals Court.