The HRANA news agency reported on June 29 that Abbas Lesani and Yousef Kari, two Azerbaijani-Turkic civil rights activists detained in Evin Prison, went on a hunger strike yesterday to protest the prison authorities’ decision to transfer them to separate wards.
According to the report, the two prisoners informed their families and relatives during phone calls that the reason for their hunger strike was the prison officials’ decision to transfer them to separate wards without respecting the principle of separation of offenses.
HRANA wrote that when prison authorities approached Lesani and Kari to transfer them to separate wards within Ward 7 (Andarzgah 7), the two activists stated that they would go on a hunger strike if prison regulations and the principle of separating prisoners by offense were not upheld.
A trial session to review the charges against Abbas Lesani, Yousef Kari, Ali Kheirjou, and Behzad Dashti, four Azerbaijani-Turkic activists, was held on May 29 at Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court, but the individuals refused to attend.
Abbas Lesani was previously arraigned at Branch 6 of the Evin Prison Prosecutor’s Office on charges including “forming an illegal group, assembly and collusion against national security, and disrupting public order.” Yousef Kari, along with two other defendants, faced charges including “membership in an illegal group, assembly and collusion against national security, and disrupting public order.”
