The hunger strike launched by Mazlum Dağ and Abdurrahman Er, prisoners held by the KDP, against rights violations in Hewler jail continues.

Dağ and Er want the imposition of arbitrary searches, physical violence, insults and the compulsory of wearing prison uniforms to end.

The hunger strike action launched by the two names on 18 May has reached its 50th day.

Mazlum Dağ and Abdurrahman Er are accused of shooting dead the Turkish vice-consul and intelligence officer Osman Köse and two other people in a luxury restaurant in Hewlêr (Erbil), the capital of the South Kurdistan autonomous region, on 17 July 2019. In February 2020, Dağ and Er were sentenced to death by the 2nd Criminal Court in Hewlêr in a show trial under pressure from Turkey. Immediately following the trial, the two activists were placed in a prison cell next to ISIS jihadists. On 22 September 2020, the death sentences were confirmed by the Court of Cassation.

The two Kurdish prisoners have been constantly subjected to serious rights violations since the day they were imprisoned. The prisoners, who have repeatedly gone on hunger strikes so far in response to oppression and violations, started an indefinite hunger strike on 18 May to protest the ongoing violations, specifically the imposition of uniform dress. The health condition of the two Kurdish prisoners is deteriorating on the 45th day of the hunger strike.