Imprisoned weblog writer Hossein Roghani goes on hunger strike

GVF -- Imprisoned weblog writer Hossein Ronaghi has gone on hunger strike. He has been in prison since his arrest on 13 December 2009 and is being held in solitary confinement in ward 2A of Evin prison.

According to the Kaleme website, Ronaghi’s hunger strike is in protests against his prolonged detention in solitary confiment and the pressure on him to make televised confessions. “Hossein is under severe pressure to give confessions on [state] television,” said his mother Zoleikha Mousavi. She also expressed concerns over her son’s continued detention in solitary confinement after eight months as well as the uncertainties surrounding his case, eight months after his arrest. 

Ronaghi’s mother also complained that she had to travel all the way from the city of Malekan to Tehran just to be able to visit her son in prison. “Hossein called and said ‘one night they blindfolded me and said you have to give an interview.’ My son is still under pressure to give a television interview. I don’t know what I have to do. I’ve written letters to everyone, from the head of the judiciary to the [chief] prosecutor. We have gone everywhere, but Hossein is still under pressure.”

It should be noted that ward 2A of the notorious Evin prison is under the control of the Revolutionary Guards.