Immediate & Unconditional Release of Mehdi Khazali

UPDATE Radio Zamaneh 06/04/2013

Political prisoner released after weight, health plummet

Iranian political prisoner Mehdi Khazali was released from Evin Prison on the night of Monday June 3.

Kaleme reports that Khazali began another hunger strike after Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, who had been the top reformist candidate seeking the Iranian presidency, was disqualified from the race.

According to the reports, Khazali was in critical condition, with his weight down to 52 kg.

Khazali had ended his previous hunger strike after 140 days at the request of his peers. He had announced that in commendation of Ayatollah Rafsanjani, he would end his hunger strike.

A week later, the Guardian Council announced the list of approved presidential candidates, and it did not include the moderate cleric Ayatollah Rafsanjani. Khazali announced that he would resume his hunger strike.

Mehdi Khazali was arrested last October at a gathering of writers. Khazali, a physician by profession, runs a political commentary blog.

Source Radio Zamaneh
http://archive.radiozamaneh.com/english/content/political-prisoner-released-after-weight-health-plummet

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UPDATE Radio Zamaneh 05/30/2013

Mehdi Khazali, the Iranian political prisoner who had ended his hunger strike following the announcement that Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani has registered as a presidential candidate, has resumed his hunger strike.

The Neday-e Sabz Azadi website reports that Khazali is once again refusing food after the Guardian Council disqualified the moderate cleric Ayatollah Rafsanjani from running in the election.

Khazali and many other reformists, many of whom are in jail after the controversial election of 2009 when reformist candidates alleged the elections were rigged in favour of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have denounced the rejection of their chief candidate and claim the council is clearing the path for the election of a conservative candidate.

Khazali has been arrested on several occasions for his critical blogs about the government. He was last arrested at a gathering of writers ,and while all the people who were arrested with him have been released, he remains in jail.

http://archive.radiozamaneh.com/english/content/prisoner-resumes-hunger-strike-over-election
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UPDATE Radio Zamaneh 05/21/2013

Reformist candidate inspires end of hunger strike

Mehdi Khazali, a prominent Iranian political prisoner, has ended his hunger strike after 140 days following the announcement of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani’s decision to run for president.

Kaleme reports that Khazali’s son quoted his father saying that he was convinced to end his hunger strike as soon as he was informed that Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani had agreed to join the presidential race.

Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani was reluctant to join the race after four years of attacks from the conservative camp. Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, had condemned Hashemi’s support for those who challenged the result of the 2009 presidential election and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory.

However, Ahmadinejad has also fallen out of favour with the Supreme Leader in the past few years, raising the possibility that the reformists could return to the political scene.

Khazali’s son reported that Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani had sent a message to his father in prison, urging him to end his hunger strike, and he has apparently agreed to do so in view of the moderate cleric’s candidacy.

Mehdi Khazali was arrested with a group of writers last November as part of the government crackdown on reformists. While all the detainees from that day have been released, Khazali has remained behind bars.

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UPDATE Radio Zamaneh April 19 , 2013

Health concerns rise for jailed Iranian activist

The wife of political prisoner Mehdi Khazali says her husband is being held in a “tight cell without any basic services” and his health is seriously at risk.

The Kaleme website reports that a number of political activists visited the family of jailed activist Mehdi Khazali, and they were told that his calls to the family have been getting shorter and the family is very concerned about his health in solitary confinement.

The report indicates that Khazali’s spouse has written to senior members of the clergy to urge them to break their silence in view of the “cruelty [her] husband is being subjected to.” She warned that Mehdi Khazali’s current circumstances at Evin Prison are threatening his life.

Mehdi Khazali, the disowned son of conservative clergyman Ayatollah Khazali, has been critical of the government crackdown on election protests over the past four years, and his critical blogs and his association with reformist figures have resulted in his persecution by the authorities.

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UPDATE January 12 , 2013

Radio Zamaneh

Mehdi Khazali renews hunger strike

Mehdi Khazali, a jailed Iranian physician and blogger, has begun his sixth round of a hunger strike in Evin Prison.

The Kaleme website reported on January 11 that Mehdi Khazali has been refusing food since nine days ago and he has been transferred to solitary confinement by Evin authorities.

Mehdi Khazali was last arrested in November of 2012 after security forces attacked a writer’s gathering.

Kaleme reports that Khazali had broken his earlier strike when prison authorities promised to meet his demands. However, a lack of commitment to those promises and the persistent “illegal treatment of prisoners by the interrogators and judiciary officials” have led Khazali into another hunger strike.

Mehdi Khazali has been critical of the government in his blogs, and that has earned him 14 years in jail. He is also sentenced to 90 lashes.

Khazali is the son of Abolghasem Khazali, a hardline member of the Assembly of Experts, and the senior Khazali has disowned his son for his reformist stance in politics.

UPDATE December 9, 2012;

40 Days After Arrest Dr. Mehdi Khazali Contacts Family & Launches Another Hunger Strike
By persianbanoo

http://persianbanoo.wordpress.com/2012/12/09/40-days-after-arrest-dr-mehdi-khazali-contacts-family-launches-another-hunger-strike/

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UPDATE : 31 Oct 20122:
Arrested during a raid against Pen Club - Sent to Evin 209 and immediately begins a dry hunger strike

UPDATE : 31 Oct 2012: Arrested during a raid against Pen Club - Sent to Evin 209 and immediately begins a dry hunger strike

UPDATE : 18 Mar 2012: On 70th day of hunger strike, released on bail - Lost 30 kgs

UPDATE ; March 6 , 2012

[Kaleme] Following 57 days of a hunger strike, Mehdi Khazali incarcerated reformist, war veteran, blogger and vocal critic of the ruling government launches a dry hunger strike protesting the lack of responsibility by the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

UPDATE ; February 17, 2012 – Kaleme - Incarcerated dissident critical of the government, Dr. Mehdi Khazali was reportedly transferred to Taleghani hospital a few hours ago after suffering a heart attack.

UPDATE ; February 16 2012 ; Wife & daughter of Mehdi Khazali were released today on bail !

UPDATE ; February 15 2012 - Radio Zamaneh
Wife and child of political prisoner abducted

Dissident sentenced to 14 years in jail.

Iranian dissident Mehdi Khazali has been sentenced to 14 years in jail, 10 years in exile and 90 lashes.

Author, critic and blogger, Dr. Mehdi Khazali is incarcerated in Evin prison and has been on a hunger strike for one month.

The director of Hayan Publications as well as a dissident blogger, Khazali received this sentence after more than 27 days on a hunger strike and he is in critically poor health.

Two days ago he was reportedly taken to the prison infirmary due to haemorrhaging of his digestive tract.

Khazali has been arrested on several occasions since the controversial presidential elections of 2009, which revealed a deep rift in the Islamic Republic establishment between the conservatives and the reformist factions.

His previous arrest occurred last July, and he was released on bail after a month-long hunger strike.

Khazali has used his blogposts to criticize the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad administration and denounce government policies.

He has written open letters to the Leader of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Khamenei, warning him against the current mistreatment of the opposition and inadequacies of the system.

Khazali is the son of the conservative cleric and member of the Assembly of Experts, Abolghassem Khazali, who has disowned his son.

Mehdi Khazali, who is also a physician, was disqualified from running in the last parliamentary elections and was denied and appointment to the board of directors of Iran’s College of Physicians.