Cartoon 30: Women Prisoners, Dignity and Hunger Strike

Women Prisoners, Dignity and Hunger Strike

On October 30, a group of female political prisoners inside Evin Prison’s Ward 350 embarked on a hunger strike to protest their inhumane treatment by Evin Prison authorities following a raid by prison authorities during which the prisoners were subjected to degrading treatment. The group ended their hunger strike on November 5, after prison authorities promised to pursue their grievance and review the conduct of prison staff involved in the incident. According to prisoner reports, female prison guards subjected them to humiliating and degrading body searches and subsequently confiscated some of their personal belongings on Tuesday, October 30. The Prison Disciplinary Committee sentenced the prisoners on hunger strike to three weeks’ ban on visitation and transfer to solitary cells, but after objections suspended enforcing the sentence for six months. The prisoners on hunger strike were: Shiva Nazar Ahari, Nazanin Deyhimi, Bahareh Hedayat, Jila Baniyaghoub, Mahboubeh Karami, Raheleh Zokaee, Mahsa Amrabadi, Nasim Soltan Beigi, Hakimeh Shakouri, and Jila Karamzadeh-Makvandi.