Kurdish writer Elî Bedirxanî went on a hunger strike last Tuesday to protest the torture and oppression in the Urmia prison.

Bedirxanî was removed from his ward and taken to another room without any reason given, and continues his hunger strike despite torture and threats by the guards for the last 5 days.

Known to his readers as Şiwan, Kurdish writer Elî Bedirxanî holds both Iranian and Iraqi citizenships. Bedirxanî has a book titled “Turkey, Kurds and Democracy: The Migration of Love”, and others focusing on Kurdish folk tales and epics.

Elî Bedirxanî was arrested in 2004, later to be released by the Iranian regime on parole. He was put on trial again in 2016 and the court sentenced him to 3 years in prison for acting against the “country’s security” interests.

Bedirxanî was sent to the Urmia prison in 2017.