Rights Activist Atena Daemi Hunger Strikes Against IRGC-Related Additional Sentence

Imprisoned civil rights advocate Atena Daemi has started a wet hunger strike to protest new sentences issued against her and her two sisters for allegedly insulting agents of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. 

“I would rather die than be a slave to tyranny,” she wrote in a letter to judicial authorities, a copy of which was received by the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

“I will not let the security agencies trample their own laws and abuse our families as a means of psychological torture to create a climate of fear,” said the letter, dated April 8, 2017.

An informed source told CHRI Daemi is determined to get the charges dropped.

“Atena will continue her hunger strike until she and her sisters are acquitted of the charges brought by the IRGC,” said the source.

Daemi is meanwhile waiting to receive urgent medical care.

“Before the (Iranian) new year (March 21, 2017), Atena completely lost vision in one eye suddenly and the problem went on for a few days until they transferred her to Farabi Hospital (in Tehran),” added the source.

“The doctor said she needed an MRI to examine her inflamed eyes, but unfortunately, because of the New Year holidays, she has not yet been taken back to the hospital for the test,” added the source.

In March 2017, Branch 1163 of the Qods Criminal Court issued a suspended 91-day sentence against Daemi’s sisters Onsieh and Hanieh based on a complaint by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) for “resisting agents carrying out their duty” and “insulting agents while on duty.”

However, 91 days were added to Daemi’s seven-year prison sentence.

On November 26, 2016, IRGC agents arrived at her home unannounced and violently transported her to Evin Prison to begin serving her initial sentence.

After she filed a complaint against their use of excessive force, the IRGC counter-sued Daemi and her sisters.