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Jailed Blogger's Mother Begins Hunger Strike

Categories: Middle East & North Africa, Iran, Citizen Media, Digital Activism, Human Rights, Politics, Protest
Hossein Ronaghi Maleki and his mother Zoleykha [1]

Hossein Ronaghi Maleki and his mother Zoleykha are now both on hunger strike. Photo from Facebook campaign page.

Zoleykha Mousavi is a mother without hope. She's the mother of a jailed Iranian blogger, Hossein Ronaghi Maleki, who has been on hunger strike for about two weeks. Mrs. Mousavi began [2] her own hunger strike on Tuesday, August 20, 2013 to “make her voice heard”.

Hossein Ronaghi Malki [3] is serving a 15-year sentence. A Facebook campaign was launched to support  [4]him.

The first thing we read on the campaign page is: “Hossein's life is in danger, we should support him today and not speak of him as a hero at his funeral.”

A recent post on Facebook informs [1] us that Hossein's mother has begun her hunger strike “because the authorities do not pay attention to her son's hunger strike and situation.”

The same post encourages activists not to be silent on this situation.

Many worry about his deteriorating health condition because Hossein previously suffered [5] from kidney and mouth problems and is in a lot of pain. He wrote a letter about how he was tortured by Intelligence Ministry agents to be forced to confess to a prosecutor, but the letter was confiscated.

No Vengeance

Once before returning to jail after a short leave, Hossein uploaded a video saying that if we want to change the country's situation, we should go to extremes… We should go forward hand in hand without any vengeance. We should build with rationality and kindness because Iran should be free from any discrimination. Each of us can have an impact on Iran and we are all responsible.