A hunger strike of 34 political prisoners at Evin Prison in Tehran commemorating the second anniversary of the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement and the death of Mahsa Amini began on Sunday.
The strike was announced by the foundation of Narges Mohammadi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been imprisoned in Tehran since 2021.
Amini, a Kurdish-Iranian woman, died in captivity on September 16, 2022, days after being detained by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating Iran's law requiring women to wear a hijab in public.
According to the Iraq-based Shafaq News, Amini's death ignited one of the most significant protest movements since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, with activists abroad asserting that the demonstrations had a lasting impact on Iranian society.
An Instagram account linked to Monammadi announced the strike's beginning with a video.
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“Once again, the female political and ideological prisoners in Evin have initiated a hunger strike in solidarity with the protesting people of Iran against the repressive policies of the government.” the post read.
Women have been central to these protests, as they have been defying one of the regime’s core principles: the hijab mandate.
Women have publicly removed and burned their headscarves across Tehran and other major cities in Iran in what analysts have described as one of the most significant challenges faced by the Islamic Republic since its founding.
Amini’s family
According to VOA News, The Kurdistan Human Rights Network reported that Ministry of Intelligence officials surrounded Amini’s Saqqez home, forbidding family from visiting Amini’s grave or leaving their house at all.
VOA News reported that shopkeepers across Iran are also staging a strike to honor the second anniversary of Amini's death.
Iranian authorities have labeled them ‘riots’ fueled by foreign adversaries and have responded with harsh law enforcement. According to Amnesty International, security forces have used live ammunition against the demonstrators.
Amini's mother, Mozhgan Eftekhari, took to Instagram to address the regime, declaring, "They will be eternally disgraced in history."
Eftekhari said that Mahsa Amini was seized by "those dark-hearted individuals who could not tolerate the beauty of their nation's daughter" during a trip to Tehran.
For years, Amini’s family has believed that her death was caused by police beating her following her arrest. Iranian law enforcement has rejected the allegations, saying Amini died after being taken to a hospital because she had suffered a heart attack.
Human rights organizations have reported that over 500 people have been killed over the past two years of protests; Tehran claims that dozens of security personnel also died.