Four Ethnic Azeris
On Hunger Strike In Iranian Prison
Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty
Friday, November 7, 2008
November 05, 2008
Four ethnic-Azeri activists held in Tehran's notorious Evin
prison are in the second week of a hunger strike to protest
their detention,
RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports.
The activists and 15 others -- including women and children --
were arrested in early September at the end of Ramadan.
The other 15 have been freed, but journalist Alirza Sarrafi,
teacher Mehdi Naimi, poet/journalist Said Mughanli, and writer
Hassan Rashidi are still imprisoned. It is not clear what crimes
they are being accused of.
The Association for the Defense of Azerbaijani Political
Prisoners reports that the hunger strike began on October 25.
Sarrafi, Mughanli, Naimi, and Rashidi are well-known advocates
for cultural rights of ethnic Azeris in Iran, including right to
native language education.
