HRANA News Agency – Mir-Yousef Younesi began a hunger strike yesterday, May 13, in protest of his transfer to Ward 7 of Evin Prison.
His daughter, Aida Younesi, shared in a statement: “My father began a hunger strike today, Tuesday, May 13, in protest of new pressures, his unlawful transfer to Ward 7, and the inhumane conditions in that ward. A week has passed since his transfer, and despite protests, letters, and promises from prison officials to return him to Ward 4, nothing has changed. He was arrested on political charges, which are not compatible with placement in Ward 7. He is deprived of basic facilities, and his access to fresh air and phone calls has been severely restricted. Even the officials of Ward 7 said from the start that this ward is not suitable for my father, an elderly and ill man, and that the transfer would last only two to three days.”
Mr. Younesi had previously been sentenced in January 2024 to five years in prison by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court.
His trial was held on December 31, 2023. According to his daughter, Aida, he was not brought to the courtroom for refusing to wear a prison uniform, and the judge did not allow the lawyers to defend him.
One of Mr. Younesi’s children stated that he lost hearing in one ear during his detention, and the other ear has also become impaired, while he has consistently been denied proper medical care.
Younesi was arrested in Shahrud on December 28, 2022. After 107 days of solitary confinement in Wards 240 and 209, and later being held in closed multi-person cells in Ward 209 of Evin Prison, he was transferred to the general ward of Evin.
Mir-Yousef Younesi is the father of Ali Younesi, a student currently imprisoned in Evin. Ali Younesi won a silver medal in Iran’s National Astronomy Olympiad in 2016 and a gold medal in 2017. He also earned first place by winning a gold medal at the 12th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics held in China. He and another detained student from the same university, Amirhossein Moradi, are currently serving their prison sentences in Evin.
HRANA’s data from the past decade shows that during this ten-year period, over 2,050 political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Iran prisons have been forced to go on hunger strike in protest of various abuses—including prolonged detention, being held in legal limbo, unfair trials, poor prison conditions, and being held in solitary confinement or alongside inmates convicted of violent crimes.
