Iran security forces detain two pro-democracy protesters

Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 21 – Two relatives of political prisoners have been arrested for a second time after having once appeared in front of a judge for protesting outside Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.
The pair, a woman by the name of Maryam Arayi and a man by the name of Mehdi Farhi-Shandiz, were originally arrested along with other relatives of political prisoners who held a vigil in front of Evin Prison on June 14 and June 15. Iran Focus

Tehran, Jun. 21 – Two relatives of political prisoners have been arrested for a second time after having once appeared in front of a judge for protesting outside Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.

The pair, a woman by the name of Maryam Arayi and a man by the name of Mehdi Farhi-Shandiz, were originally arrested along with other relatives of political prisoners who held a vigil in front of Evin Prison on June 14 and June 15.

At least 10 people were arrested on June 14 and at least two dozen men and women were arrested the following day by Iran’s paramilitary police.

Arayi and Farhi-Shandiz are set to appear in front of another judge today, though the latest charges remain unclear.

The protests were in support of political prisoners presently on hunger strike inside Evin. Evin Prison was built by the Shah’s regime as a modern security prison to house political dissidents, but it became the Islamic Republic’s most dreaded gulag and the site of numerous political executions.

The dozens of families of political prisoners and dissidents who staged the sit-in outside Evin Prison have been widely supported by Iranians.

On June 10, political prisoners in Evin Prison began a month-long hunger strike to protest against human rights violations and what they called the “sham election” on June 17 to choose the country’s new president.

The political prisoners said they were defending “the right to speak”, “the right to write freely”, “the right to belief”, and “the unconditional release of all political prisoners”.

The prisoners called for a general boycott of the elections and invited political prisoners from elsewhere throughout the country to join them in the strike.