Kamran Qasemi, a Kurdish political prisoner incarcerated in Urmia Prison, has embarked on a hunger strike in protest against the authorities’ refusal to grant him furlough and conditional release. Following this action, he has been transferred to solitary confinement at the prison officials’ order.
According to the Campaign for the Defense of Political and Civil Prisoners, Kamran Qasemi, who has served more than half of his seven-and-a-half-year sentence, has been deprived of his right to furlough and conditional release despite meeting the requirements.
Previously, in protest against the neglect of his situation, pressure from the Special Office of the Intelligence and failure to observe the principle of crime segregation, he had gone on a hunger strike.
Following Qasemi’s protest against the insult and disrespect of prison officers towards his family in July 2022, he was subjected to beating and mistreatment.
The inappropriate conditions of the prison, deprivation of legal rights, and violent confrontations have raised concerns about the health and safety of this political prisoner.
It is worth mentioning that Qasemi, along with several other Kurdish citizens, was arrested in 2019 on charges of “acting against national security” and sentenced to imprisonment.