Iran civil rights lawyer on hunger strike due to harassment in prison

• Published date: 06 October 2021
• Author: BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

The National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI) tweeted on Friday: "The Islamic Republic has kept #SoheilaHejab, an Iranian lawyer and activist, in jail without proper access to medical care for months. She has launched multiple hunger strikes and is in dire circumstances."

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Mariam Memarsadegh, Iranian-American expert on human rights in Iran, said on Friday: "Despite suffering torture and threats to her life, Soheila Hejab has continued from inside prison to denounce the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and unmistakably call for overthrow. The fierce courage in her voice is chilling."

Memarsadeghi, who advocates for democracy in Iran and is a fellow for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a Canada-based research center, added: "Like many who have dissented from the Islamist totalitarian regime, she is an advocate for democracy in the form of a constitutional monarchy and a supporter of Reza Pahlavi."

Similarly, on Tuesday, the Center for Human Rights in Iran tweeted: "Imprisoned rights lawyer Soheila Hejab was assaulted by prisoners convicted of 'dangerous crimes' in Iran's Gharchak Prison, reports HRANA [Human Rights Activists News Agency]. The assault was instigated by a prison official. Hejab had ended a hunger strike on Oct. 3 after receiving pledges from the authorities."

Kylie Moore-Gilbert, an Australian academic with a focus on the Middle East, who was wrongfully imprisoned by the clerical regime in Tehran, took to Twitter on Sunday: "My friend Soheila Hejab has been on hunger strike in Qarchak prison for the past 2 weeks. She is suffering from low blood pressure and stomach and kidney problems. She is protesting the harassment of her and her family by members of the security forces."

She added that "When I knew Soheila in 2020, she was recovering from an earlier months-long hunger strike which left her emaciated and...