Political Prisoner’s Hunger Strike Highlights Plight of Religious and Political Prisoners in Iran

Nasim Simiyari Protests Iran’s Brutal Persecution of Baha’is, Demands Release of Fariba Kamalabadi

October 23, 2025 — In Iran, where defendants are convicted after sham trials, prisoners are abused, and avenues for justice are systematically closed, hunger strikes have become the last means of protest for prisoners. For many, refusing food is their only remaining voice, to demand an end to executions, better prison conditions, access to medical care, or the freedom unjustly denied them.

Many prisoners go on hunger strikes in solidarity with fellow inmates or join coordinated strikes across prisons, turning personal sacrifice into a collective act of resistance. These prisoners have become part of a growing pattern of peaceful defiance, putting their bodies on the line, risking both their health as well as retribution by the authorities to expose state injustice.

Nasim Simiyari, a political prisoner and protester from the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, is one among many such prisoners who have gone on hunger strike, and as is typical, not to protest injustices against herself, but rather those against a fellow prisoner. She recently went on a 10-day hunger strike in solidarity with Fariba Kamalabadi, a Baha’i political prisoner, to demand her release.

Kamalabadi, a 63-year-old Baha’i citizen and community leader, was released in 2017 after completing a 10-year sentence. She was re-arrested in August 2022 and, after enduring months of solitary confinement, sentenced to another 10 years in prison.

In a letter from Evin Prison reprinted below, Simiyari revealed Kamalabadi had been informed through her lawyer that she would soon be released. A judiciary representative confirmed her release. A few days later, word came that her release had been canceled.

Baha’is are one of the most severely persecuted religious minorities in Iran. Members of this community—especially Baha’i women—are routinely arrested and sentenced to long prison sentences simply for practicing their faith, which is not recognized by the Islamic Republic.

Simiyari, an architecture graduate and protester, was arrested by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence agents in Tehran on May 17, 2023. After four months in solitary confinement under harsh interrogation, she was transferred to Evin Prison’s women’s ward.

Charged with “assembly and collusion,” “propaganda against the regime,” and “baghi” (rebellion)—a charge that can carry the death penalty—she was sentenced to six years in prison, 74 lashes, and 20 years of internal exile in Anguran, Zanjan Province, in September 2024.

Political prisoners in the women’s ward of Tehran’s Evin Prison issued a statement expressing solidarity with Simiyari, describing her protest as a “rightful act” and saying: “We, Nasim’s friends and cellmates—who have witnessed the deterioration of her condition—urge her to end her hunger strike.”

A group of former political and civil rights activists also wrote an open letter to Simiyari, calling on her to end her strike while affirming their solidarity and respect for her courage.

On October 21, Simiyari announced she was ending her hunger strike. The letter she wrote discussing this decision is also reprinted below.

Simiyari’s actions serve as an urgent reminder of the ongoing unlawful imprisonment of political and religious prisoners in Iran. While she has now ended her hunger strike, her demand remains urgent: the release of Baháʼí community leader Fariba Kamalabadi.

CHRI urges governments, UN bodies, and international human rights organizations to:

• Publicly and forcefully condemn the Iranian government’s continued imprisonment and persecution of Baha’i citizens and political prisoners;
• Demand the immediate and unconditional release of Fariba Kamalabadi and all individuals detained for their beliefs or peaceful activism;
• Increase diplomatic pressure through targeted sanctions and multilateral engagement aimed at ending Iran’s violations of freedom of religion and expression;
• Ensure sustained international attention on Iran’s prisons, where hunger strikes have become prisoners’ only means of protest.

Nasim Simiyari’s letter follows below:

“For Fariba, for the thousands of days she has spent in prison, for the suffering she has endured, for her years of steadfastness, patience, and resistance”

I, Nasim Simiyari, was arrested more than two years ago during the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising. I have never spoken about the suffering I endured during the months of interrogation, solitary confinement, and the years I spent in prison.

But today, I want to share with you a pain that is deeper and more unbearable than all that was inflicted upon my body and soul.

I want to speak to you about the suffering of Fariba Kamalabadi, a teacher from whom I have learned so much.

Fariba is patient, and during the two and a half years we lived together, I learned countless lessons from her—lessons in humanity and tolerance in the face of suffering that she has been forced to endure.

She has spent more than thirteen years of her life in prison. She stands tall, and she empathizes with all the women (us prisoners). Sometimes she simply listens—so you can speak, and speak, and find calm. Sometimes she joins the conversation and shares in our pain. Sometimes she shares her experiences with us—each one a lesson.

Her little daughter grew up on the way to the prison’s visiting hall. She embraced her grandchildren there; they ran around, played hide and seek, drew pictures together, and she told them stories—stories that always ended abruptly with the sound of the visiting bell.

Fariba is accustomed to hardship and endures her longing with strength. She knows how to resist through imprisonment. Last week, while she still had seven years of her sentence remaining, her lawyer informed her that she was to be released. She was overjoyed and shed tears of happiness. We called out to each other in excitement, sharing the good news with laughter and celebration.

On October 10, 2025, her release was officially announced by a representative of the judiciary, and it was said that within a week, the release order would reach the women’s ward.

They told her to be ready to leave.

But the distance between Fariba’s joy and that of her family, lawyers, and the women’s ward—and the grief of her continued imprisonment was only a few days long.

Then came the news: her release had been canceled.

For Fariba,
for the thousands of days she has spent in prison,
for the suffering she has endured,

for her years of steadfastness, patience, and resistance—

until my dear Fariba’s unconditional freedom,
the teacher from whom I have learned so much,
I will be on a hunger strike.

Nasim Simiyari
Women’s Ward, Evin Prison
October 12, 2025

Nasim Simiyari’s second letter follows below: 

“Out of respect for you, I am ending my hunger strike.”

My dear friends,
My courageous fellow inmates and companions in freedom,

I have read your kind and heartfelt letters, and I felt every word deeply. Each line reminded me of the days when, together, we turned suffering into resistance.

For me and my dear Fariba, enduring the days of imprisonment has not been as painful as witnessing the injustice unfolding before our eyes. The hardship of prison becomes unbearable only when faced with unanswered injustice. My hunger strike rose from that pain — from the inability to remain silent in the face of what must never be normalized.

But today, upon hearing your compassionate voices, my faith in the power of your solidarity has only grown stronger. This bond itself is a response to oppression. I believe that refusing indifference, joining hands, and pursuing justice collectively are the paths to securing the rights that my dear Fariba deserves.

I had nothing more than my life to give — and now I know that with you beside me, our voices can pass even through walls. Out of respect for you, I am ending my hunger strike.

As Toomaj Salehi [a dissident Iranian rapper who has been imprisoned multiple times for his music] says:
 “The road goes on, the road goes on,
 Even our darkest night has its star.
 We will stay in this silence and sing of the light,
 Until they hear us — this is our voice…”

With love and conviction,
Nasim Simiyari
Evin Prison, October 21, 2025