An imprisoned Iranian activist has ended his 71-day hunger strike after his wife was finally freed from prison after being detained last October. On the brink of collapse, Arash Sadeghi will be transported to a hospital and fed intravenously, according to his lawyer. He will be returned to prison after he is stabilized. Sadeghi himself is serving a 19-year jail sentence on trumped-up charges of “spreading propaganda against the system,” “gathering and colluding against national security” and “insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic.”
These charges, specifically “propaganda” and conspiracy against the state, have been leveled against dissidents for nearly a century, through the reign of the Shah to the rise of the Islamist Khomeini regime. The ambiguity of the charges enables the state to detain any and all opposition (both real and imagined) against its iron-fisted rule.
An illusory legal process, made up of kangaroo court proceedings, is an asset in every tyrant’s tool kit. It helps the autocratic state maintain its monopoly on violence.
As a victim of the Islamic Republic’s totalitarian governance, Sadeghi garnered national attention after subjecting his body to unbearable hunger for a number of weeks to protest his wife’s detention.
“Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, was jailed in 2016 after police discovered an unpublished story she had written in a diary in which a character burns the Koran in protest,” reports the BBC. “Ms Ebrahimi Iraee was detained on 24 October after officials raided her home, human rights group Amnesty International said. She had previously been convicted of ‘insulting Islamic sanctities’ and ‘spreading propaganda against the system.’”
“Her unpublished story described the emotional reaction of a young woman who watches the film The Stoning of Soraya M, which in turn tells the true story of a young woman stoned to death,” adds the BBC. “Iranian authorities found the piece, written in a private diary, on 6 September 2014.”
Ebrahimi Iraee’s meta-narrative, exposing the grave injustices of the patriarchal Islamic society, was likely seen as an affront to Islam itself.
According to Amnesty, Sadeghi and Ebrahimi Iraee were detained by Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces loyal only to the mullahs.
But Ebrahimi Iraee release has stunned even the folks at Amnesty International who had previously called her trial in Iran “farcical.”
The temporary order for release would have come straight from the top of the power totem pole in Tehran.
Dear World congrats; Arash has broken his hunger strike on day 72 after his wife Golrokh was released from prison. #SaveArash pic.twitter.com/4B9NxbDj5Q
— KavehTaheri (@TaheriKaveh) January 3, 2017
Notably, authorities let Ebrahimi Iraee go just one day after hundreds of Iranians, mostly young and women, had gathered outside of Iran’s notorious Evin prison to call for the release of her husband.
In the ultimate expression of love, Sadeghi risked his life to save his wife, capturing the hearts of tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of Iranians living under the yoke of theocratic oppression. Sadeghi and Ebrhaimi Iraee became a real-life Layla and Majnun, the cultural equivalent of a Romeo and Juliet.
As his hunger strike continued into the 40th, 50th, and 60th day, Sadeghi began inspiring a movement. On the ground and online, #SaveArash brought together thousands of Iranians and dissident-allies around the world under the banner of freedom.
#Illinois teacher/artist @Marcnelsonart‘s portrait of Arash Sadeghi, now on day 70 of hunger strike. #savearash pic.twitter.com/HDMeVWO9lf
— Wendy Widom (@wendywidom) January 1, 2017
Love is the soul’s light-Rumi
Keep raising your song for Arash and Golrokh. #SaveArash #SaveGolrokh #Iran #Humanrights pic.twitter.com/redeTRZtst— Marc Nelson (@Marcnelsonart) January 2, 2017
Defying the state in an unprecedented act of unpermitted protest, hundreds of Iranian marched on the physical embodiment of “hell on earth,” Evin prison, to demand justice for Sadeghi. In doing so, they risked their own safety. The symbolism of this protest cannot be overstated.
To stand in front of Evin prison is to come to terms with our own mortality. Here, the angel of death faithfully serves his patrons in Tehran.
People gathered in front of Evin Prison this morning to support Arash Sadeghi & his wife who wrote a short story about stoning. #SaveArash pic.twitter.com/Ukg8gBSkKM
— My Stealthy Freedom (@masihpooyan) January 2, 2017
Family/friends of #ArashSadeghi on Day 71 of hunger strike rally today outside Evin Prison chanting #FreeArash #FreeGolrokh #SaveArash #Iran pic.twitter.com/7lrIIihaPc
— M. Hanif Jazayeri (@HanifJazayeri) January 2, 2017
“To many Iranians, the concept of Evin prison is synonymous with political repression and torture,” Gissou Nia, executive director of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, told FoxNews.com. “Today, anyone who is perceived to be a threat to the Iranian regime, including human rights defenders … is kept within the confines of Evin and other notorious prisons in Iran.”
Fox News reports:
Beatings, torture, mock executions and brutal interrogations are the norm at Evin prison, where for four decades the anguished cries of prisoners have been swallowed up by the drab walls of the low-slung lockup in northwestern Tehran. Standing at the foot of the Alborz Mountains, it is home to an estimated 15,000 inmates, including killers, thieves and rapists. But the prison has also held ayatollahs, journalists, intellectuals and dissidents over the years.
The fate of Sadeghi is unknown. For now, his wife is out of prison and his hunger strike has ended. The protests have largely quieted down. The fact is, Sadeghi may very well languish in prison or mysteriously disappear in the imminent future.
This is the power of the people! #SaveArash who has stood tall against the regime of #Iran, has forced them to accept all his demands. pic.twitter.com/7ir7gKgxwq
— KavehTaheri (@TaheriKaveh) January 3, 2017
Iranian authorities knew exactly they were doing when they released Ebrahimi Iraee. It wasn’t an act of mercy or a genial courtesy. Releasing the Ebrhaimi Iraee was a calculated political decision. The state wanted to dry out the embers of popular unrest quickly before the unstoppable fire of resistance began burning in the bowels of the Iranian body politic. Unfortunately for the mullahs, this searing urge to be free isn’t going anywhere. It emerged with the collective force of a people undeterred during the 2009 Green Movement, and it was resurrected once again outside of Evin prison on Monday.
