Iran International
Iranian dissident blogger Hossein Ronaghi’s health has life-threateningly deteriorated because of his hunger strike and other medical conditions at Tehran’s Evin Prison.
In a statement from Evin Prison Saturday, imprisoned filmmakers Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof warned about serious deterioration of Ronaghi’s health and said he is in danger of having a stroke any minute after fifty days of hunger strike.
Hossein Ronaghi who has been on hunger strike since his arrest on September 24 amid Mahsa Amini protests has refused liquid nourishment and water since Saturday. Ronaghi who was badly beaten in detention by agents who broke both his legs had said he would refuse all food and liquid nourishment if he was arrested again.
In September after protests began, security agents tried to enter Ronaghi’s apartment while he was being interviewed by Iran International TV online. “I think they are here,” he said before the interview ended but he managed to escape. He was arrested violently along with two of his lawyers when he presented himself to the authorities.
The reason he escaped the first arrest was that once plainclothesmen take someone away, they can kill the person, while the authorities can claim no knowledge of the incident. Ronaghi, therefore, decided to officially present himself to the prosecutor at Evin Prison.
His brother Hassan Ronaghi in a tweet Sunday said his brother’s condition has worsened and he has been taken to the prison clinic. The family say he has been denied proper medical care since his arrest despite several serious medical conditions including partial kidney failure, and broken legs.
Ronaghi who was first arrested during the 2009 post-election unrest has been in and out of prison several times. He lost one kidney because of physical abuse and torture, lack of medical treatment, and the effect of several hunger strikes during his previous imprisonments. His remaining kidney is badly damaged too.
Ronaghi previously went on hunger strike three times. -- in June, August, and October 2010 -- in protest to maltreatment and pressures to consent to televised false ‘confessions’ against himself and others. He only ended his hunger strike when his mother also went on a hunger strike that lasted nearly two weeks.
Ronaghi’s father was hospitalized on November 3 when he had a stroke outside Evin while trying to talk to prison authorities about his son’s situation.
Hassan Ronaghi said Saturday that his brother had seizures several times, but judicial authorities refuse to free him despite medical authorities’ confirmation that he is not fit to serve a prison sentence.
“Prison authorities and the Evin Prosecutor want to kill Hossein,” he wrote, adding that the Supreme Leader’s Office, intelligence ministry and judicial authorities should be held to account if something happens to his brother.
Panahi and Rasoulof warned about Ronaghi’s determination to start refusing liquids and said he could lose his life like prisoner of conscience Behnam Mahjoubi and jailed poet Baktash Abtin both of whom were denied timely medical care and died at Evin Prison in the past ten months.
In a tweet Saturday, Fakhri Mohtashami, the wife of prominent political prisoner Mostafa Tajzadeh who is also serving a sentence at Evin Prison, said her husband had seriously warned about Ronaghi’s condition in a phone call from the prison. Tajzadeh told his wife that Ronaghi is extremely weak, and something had to be done before it got too late.
“Hossein Ronaghi’s health is failing...He has decided to refuse water, sugar and salt. This means danger of death,” former political prisoner Kianoosh Sanjari tweeted Saturday while remembering the loss of his comrade Akbar Mohammadi who died of hunger strike and lack of medical care in 2006 while both were held at Evin Prison.
Since the current wave of demonstrations began in mid-September, following the death in custody of a young woman, more and more athletes have expressed solidarity with the people either in bold public statements or through different forms of disobedience, such as not singing the Islamic Republic’s national anthem during matches.
In less than a month, the pace of the athletes showing support for the protests has accelerated as the Iranian football, beach football, waterpolo, basketball, and sitting volleyball teams refused to sing along with the anthem, which is customary in almost all international competitions. Now with the biggest sporting event on the horizon, the regime is resorting to whatever it can to stifle the voices of dissent.
Authorities have made serious threats against athletes and other celebrities to stop them from public displays of solidarity with protesters but to no avail.
Threatening to remove players from the national squad, Ahmad Rastineh, the spokesman of the parliament’s cultural committee, said on Sunday that "if a player does not have a proper understanding” of the current affairs, it is not necessary to keep them in the national outfit.
Earlier in the month, the beach football federation of the Islamic Republic threatened the players of the national squad for their acts of solidarity with the antigovernment protests.
The national team players did not cheer or celebrate after winning the cup following their final victory against Brazil and also refused to sing the national anthem of the Islamic Republic at the beginning of their semifinal match against the UAE.
During the final, Iranian striker Saeed Piramoun expressed his solidarity with Iranian protesters by miming the hair cutting gesture after scoring a goal. The gesture has become an international symbol of solidarity with Iranian women and the protest movement with many international athletes and celebrities posting images of themselves re-enacting the move. Islamic Republic officials also issued a threatening message to the United Arab Emirates that hosted the Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup.
A new trending act of solidarity that is catching on in the past several days, is the reenactment of a photo of one the protesters killed by security forces in the Baluch-majority province of Sistan and Baluchestan.
The iconic photo, which is from an earlier event, shows Khodayar Lojei handcuffed to a post while a glass of water is placed near him but with a distance he cannot reach. Several football and futsal players sat in the same position instead of cheering after scoring a goal while another player put a symbolic glass of water near them.
Also on Sunday, Andrea Stramaccioni, the former Italian coach of the popular football club Esteqlal, said in an Instagram story that he was approached by many Iranian state TV sport programs to appear in their shows as a guest during the World Cup, noting that he rejected the offers because the state broadcaster is suppressing the voice of people.
Addressing the Iranians, he said, “My heart is with you and refusing participation in programs and television you don’t approve of is the least I can do to support your brave movement. Do not lose your hope because the Iranian people we saw deserve a lot more than what they already have.”
During a press conference after the Iranian basketball team’s match with the Chinese squad, several journalists walked out as a show of solidarity with their peers arrested for reporting on Islamic Republic’s deadly violence against protesters.
"Our colleagues have been arrested for some time and are now in prison. We cannot [continue our work] until they are released... We have decided to leave this place. We are not spies or criminals. We are journalists. We are only journalists; sport journalists," said one of the reporters before leaving the room.
What the academic is referring to is the dual lack of social freedoms and economic opportunity in a country rich with natural resources but hampered by religious ideology and an inefficient, centralized economy.
Khaniki told Etemad Online in Tehran that he still does not know any way out of the crisis other than holding dialogues. His statement is obviously mindless of the fact that it takes two to tango and that there will be no dialogue while the regime remains unaccountable and exhibits signs of arrogance.
Khaniki said that during recent years the Iranian society has become more pluralistic, but the government continues to believe in controlling and restricting the society's lifestyle and political choices.
He said Iran's new generation is fighting the government to put an end to discriminations against young Iranians. Although networking and voicing demands through social networks exist in all societies, the Iranian government behaves badly by ignoring the young generation’s demands, in an environment where most social, economic and political activities is controlled by the state.
Meanwhile, Khaniki pointed out that the continuation of the discriminatory distribution of privileges in the interest of the older generation has escalated the protests in Iran. He added that the Iranian government ignores the fact that responding to demands is part of its responsibilities.
As the protests in Iran entered its third month, another Iranian reformist commentator, Mohammad Reza Tajik suggested in a commentary published by Etemad newspaper that government officials should avoid making annoying comments that will further enrage young protesters.
Tajik characterized Iranian officials' rhetoric as outdated and rotten, and their tone as aggressive, violent and rude. "They say no to all the criticisms and demands for change. But this is a language that cannot go any further, hinders communication and remains futile," he said.
Such a rigid rhetoric, said Tajik, puts an end to human bonds and particularly alienates the younger generation. It bruises young Iranians' soul and comes across as bad lies and deceit.
He pointed out that "purifying the political language will purify political action. But this should take place constantly as political rhetoric needs to be consistent with the requirements of modern times. Iranians' political language should be rejuvenated in the same way that Romans did away with the roughness of Latin and turned to a rich language that was suitable for writing laws."
Tajik further opined that healthy politics can be preserved only when politicians do away with rude, vulgar, and violent language. He said politicians should not think that whatever they say is true and comes from God. Instead, they should put their ideas to the test of the people's vote.
He pointed out that under the current circumstances when society is agitated unfair comments will add to its anger and hatred. Thus, it is wise for the country's officials to at least remain silent not to enrage the people even more.
Tajik did not name anyone, but he was obviously talking about hardliner politicians and military commanders considered to enjoy the confidence of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
His representative to Khorasan Province Ahmad Alamolhoda and the editor of Khamenei's office's newspaper Kayhan, Hossein Shariatmadari, on a daily basis pump waves of hate speak into society. Some Revolutionary Guard commanders keep humiliating Iranian protesters by calling them "flies" a species inferior even to "goats," a nickname Alamolhoda gave to Iranians who protested against a rigged election in 2009 and an unusual fuel price rise in 2019.