Jailed Iranian Blogger Begins Dry Hunger Strike

The painful story of Iranian bloggers has a new face these days: Hossein Ronaghi Maleki, a jailed blogger who is serving a 15-year sentence in prison. His father says jail has been a torture because of his poor kidney condition. The blogger was operated five times but each time he was returned to prison after surgery, a prison that has no medical facilities, suitable nutrition, nor kidney specialists.

Hossein began a hunger strike on May 19, 2012 for a simple reason: to have the right to stay in hospital after surgery and not to move back to prison. His health condition deteriorated, and he was eventually moved to a hospital. Herana, a human rights website reported [fa] on Wednesday, June 7 that Hossein has now begun a “dry” hunger strike from hospital, which means he is no longer drinking water.

Hossein Ronaghi Maleki

Hossein Ronaghi Maleki

Adam Evolution says [fa] of Hossein Ronaghi Maleki:

He is not a singer, he is not football player, he did not get naked and he is not an actor. He just fought for free access to the internet. He is 27 years old, sentenced to 15 years in prison, he spent ten months in an isolation cell, he was operated five times and lost one of his kidneys.

Faryade3rang writes [fa]:

Hossein's mother says her son's rights were violated several times while he was in prison and was denied access to a lawyer. His mother weeps when she talks about her jailed son.

Nazanin calls [fa] for a hunger strike on June 11 to support Hossein Ronagh Maleki. A Facebook page has been created to raise awareness his case and the hunger strike.

Last year, a series of slides were published on YouTube to encourage people to support this blogger:

On March 18, 2009 Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, became the first Iranian blogger to die in prison in Tehran. Let's campaign, pray and hope the tragedy does not occur again.

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