The South Azerbaijani activist Yurush(Ayat) Mehralibegli who has gone on hunger protest on 13 April 2014, had a brief telephone conversation with his family on 23rd April. According to his family members, Mr. Mehralibagli complained about excruciating pain in his stomach.
He has commenced his hunger strike in a protest to the continuous harassment of political prisoners and their family members. Mehralibegli’s brother has told reporters that the country’s spy agency ETTELAAT has been persistently threatening to arrest Mehralibagli’s wife, Ms. Sona Farajzade.
Mr. Mahralibagli is a Central Committee Member of the New GAMOH, the political organization struggling to secure the right of self-determination for the people of South Azerbaijan and serving his sentence of 9 years in prison.
New GAMOH’s other leading member, Mr. Mahmoud Fazli has just halted his hunger strike after the director of the Tabriz Prison agreed to allow him to simply submit an appeal to the country’s highest court.
Mr. Said Matinpour, another South Azerbaijani political activist held in Tehran’s EVIN prison has gone on hunger strike since last week in a protest of the prison guards’ crackdown on political prisoners. His spouse, Ms. Atiya Taheri (Matinpour) told some media outlets that Mr. Matinpour’s health is deteriorating.
