Iranian doctor Farhad Meysami has been in prison in Iran for more than four years. Now pictures of him are causing international concern.
Images of an Iranian activist on hunger strike have sparked widespread concern on social media. Human rights activists published photos of doctor Farhad Meysami, who has been in prison since 2018, on Thursday evening. The 53-year-old can be seen with a shaved head and completely emaciated. Iranians were shocked and again called for his release.
Meysami has been in prison for more than four years. The judiciary accuses him of violating “national security”. The well-known activist had already gone on a hunger strike in 2018. Since the outbreak of the most recent protests in autumn 2022, the doctor in the Gohardasht prison in Karaj near the capital Tehran has refused to eat. According to media reports, Meysami is demanding an end to the executions of demonstrators, the release of political prisoners and the end of the strict dress code.
Iranian authorities speak of an alleged intestinal disease
Iranian authorities contradicted the reports on Friday. The judiciary explained Meysami’s weight loss with an alleged intestinal disease, as reported by the Misan news portal. He is said to have interrupted his hunger strike and received medical attention. The information could not be independently verified.
Research by several media outlets, however, highlighted the brutal torture used against detainees in Iranian prisons. Read more about it here.
Politicians and intellectuals are demanding their release
Prominent politicians and intellectuals are calling for Meysami’s release. The Iranian political scientist Abbas Abdi made an appeal for this on Twitter. Human rights activist Hossein Ronaghi, who was last detained in Ewin prison and was released on bail, wrote that Meysami did not deserve jail time. His situation was “painful,” Ronaghi wrote on Twitter. “Responsibility for his life rests with the Islamic Republic”. Meysami was also already in Ewin prison.
The latest wave of protests in Iran was triggered by the death of the Iranian Kurd Jina Mahsa Amini in police custody in mid-September. She had been arrested by the so-called vice police for violating Islamic dress codes. Street protests have abated in recent weeks. Many women now express their displeasure through civil disobedience, for example by ignoring the compulsory headscarf.
