Hunger Striking Dervishes Pen Open Letter from Prison

 Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – After a violent raid on their prison sit-in last week, twelve imprisoned Dervishes who have gone on hunger strike following their transfer to solitary confinement have written a letter outlining their demands.

The twelve Dervishes, according to Majzooban Noor, a website that reports on Dervish issues, are the following:  Ali Bolboli 2. Salehodin Moradi 3. Mohammad Reza Darvishi 4. Abbas Dehghan 5. Ali Mohammad Shahi 6. Mojtaba Biranvand 7. Ali Karimi 8. Jafar Ahmadi 9. Ibrahim Allahbakhshi 10. Heydar Teymouri 11. Majid Yarahmadi 12. Saeed Soltanpour

Heydar Teymouri, Majid Yarahmadi, and Saeed Soltanpour joined the hunger strike after nine of their imprisoned fellow Dervishes first announced their strike.

The first nine dervishes to go on hunger strike had previously written an open letter outlining their three main demands: the release their religious leader, Noor Ali Tabandeh, from house arrest in Tehran; the release of female Dervish prisoners held in Gharchak Prison; and the reunification of prisoners to the same ward from solitary confinement.

<b> Below is the full text of the letter, translated into English by HRANA: </b>

<i> A leader who cares about his country will not wish to see pain afflicting his people
A country that is led by uncaring leaders will never see peace and calm </i>

For the past six months, we have chosen the path of patience, hoping that those who oppose us will come to their senses and end the harassment and persecution of the citizens in this country, whether they are first-class citizens or second-class citizens like us Dervishes. However, all we have witnessed is more senselessness and less wisdom from officials who were supposed to resolve the problems of the Gonabadi Sufis.

For the past six months, officials, with the help of some collaborators, have placed our revered master and spiritual leader, Dr Noor Ali Tabandeh, under house arrest. They have thus deprived the followers of benefiting from his teachings. Our respected Dervish sisters, who have been imprisoned since February, and wounded, their bodies bloodied, in June, have been taken without trial to Gharchak Prison. In the unsanitary and disease-ridden environment of the prison, they are denied access to proper medical care and have been savagely attacked and beaten. Without access to a lawyer, due process, or a fair trial, they have been sentenced to years in prison and deprived of their social rights.

When, alongside our imprisoned brothers, we staged a sit-in to protest the unfair house arrest of our leader and the ordeal of our sisters, instead of hearing our voices and heeding our demands, guards subjected us to batons, electrical shocks, and tear gas.

They separated us and showed that even inside the walls of the prison, they follow the dirty politics of sowing division amongst the followers of Gonabadi Sufis, a group that symbolizes unity and solidarity.

Now that nobody hears our voice and the repression against the Dervishes takes on a new dimension every day, we hereby announce that until the house arrest of our leader, Majzoob Ali Shah [Noor Ali Tabandeh], is lifted, and our imprisoned sisters are released, and our brothers imprisoned in Fashaouyeh (Great Tehran Penitentiary) are returned from solitary confinement and reunified in the same ward, we will be on hunger strike. We seek the help of freedom and justice fighters in making our voice heard.

Signed:
Ali Bolboli, Salehodin Moradi, Mohammad Reza Darvishi, Abbas Dehghan, Ali Mohammad Shahi, Mojtaba Biranvand, Ali Karimi, Jafar Ahmadi, Ibrahim Allahbakhshi