ICC Note: Two Iranian Christians are going on a hunger strike after being held for over six months as political prisoners with no official charge. Hadi Asgari and Amin Afshar Naderi were both arrested during a picnic raid last August. They are the only two remaining of five men arrested that day. They are going on strike for being held in uncertainty, having no right to a lawyer, and not receiving proper medical attention in prison.

02/08/2017 Iran (Mohabat News): Iranian Christian prisoners Hadi Asgari and Amin Afshar Naderi are the two Iranian Christians held in prison for the last six months in uncertainty. They seek fair treatment of their case and adequate medical care in prison and as such have decided to go on hunger strike should the authorities keep them in uncertainty for a longer period.

Keeping political prisoners and prisoners of conscience for a long period of time in uncertainty is one of the methods the Iranian intelligence service uses to put such prisoners under pressure. They also do not inform the families of these prisoners of their whereabouts and in some cases do not even let them know they have been arrested.

They could spend months or even years in solitary confinement without going through the common judicial process. This long period of waiting in prison often breaks the prisoners emotionally and causes lasting mental and physical damage.

This long waiting period is also used to fabricate false evidence against such prisoners to be used at court.

The two Christian prisoners, Hadi Asgari and Amin Afshar Naderi have been held in uncertainty for the last six months in ward four of the Evin prison. Reports indicate that these Christian men have not been interrogated so far, nor has their lawyer been able to review their case. All the requests made by their families to obtain information about their situation has been turned down as well.

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