The Berlin Committee of the East Kurdistan Free Women's Community (KJAR) started a two-day hunger strike in order to draw attention to the situation of political prisoners in Iran, to make their voices heard, to draw the attention of international public opinion, and to demand an end to death penalties and improvement of prison conditions.

With the hunger strike, the KJAR Berlin Committee highlights the importance of collective struggle for the rights of women, political prisoners and human rights defenders.

Background

Warisha Moradi, also known as Ciwana Sine, was arrested on 1 August 2023 during a police check near her hometown of Sine (Sanandaj) and taken to an unknown location. Iran's regime judiciary accuses her of "enmity towards God" and "armed rebellion against the state". The allegations are related to Moradi's membership in the KJAR, the umbrella organization of the Kurdish women's movement in Iran, and her commitment to women's and feminist issues. Tehran sees the KJAR as a "separatist terrorist organization" because it is said to be part of the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK).

After Moradi's abduction, her whereabouts were unclear for months. It was only thanks to the KHRN that it became known that the activist had been brutally tortured, mistreated and interrogated by the Iranian Secret Service in Sine for weeks after her arrest, until she was transferred to Tehran at the end of August. There she was held for months in the notorious high-security wing 209 of Evin prison - also subjected to torture and mistreatment, with the aim of breaking her or forcing her to confess. Moradi has been in the women's section of the prison since the beginning of January. She is denied access to legal counsel most of the time. If she is convicted, she faces the death penalty.

Warisha Moradi has been imprisoned in Evin prison in Tehran for 14 months. Arbitrarily accused of ‘inciting rebellion’ by the Iranian judiciary, she started an indefinite hunger strike on 10 October, World Day Against the Death Penalty, not only for better prison conditions, but also against the death penalty in Iran.

KJAR issued a statement on 25 October calling for participation in the general hunger strike and asking Warisha Moradi to end her hunger strike action as her condition worsened due to a serious drop in blood pressure and there is a high possibility that she may fall into a coma.

On 27 October, more than 120 civil society activists from East Kurdistan issued a joint statement in support of Warisha Moradi’s resistance and also asked her to end her hunger strike, saying, “We have no intention of overlooking the importance and meaning of her protest; quite the contrary, we see her action as a significant step in the path of civil resistance. But, as Warisha Moradi herself has always emphasized the role of society and the active participation of advocates, we now need her presence and strength on this journey more than ever. Civil resistance requires energy, resilience, and continuity, as this struggle is both long and challenging.”

KJAR published a statement on its official website on Tuesday and said that Warisha Moradi ended her protest upon its call.