Evening Standard: Three women on hunger strike in London have been treated in hospital with chest pains, muscle spasms and other illnesses. They are among six Londoners who have refused food for three months in a protest against the treatment of an Iranian opposition group in Iraq.
Evening Standard
Three women on hunger strike in London have been treated in hospital with chest pains, muscle spasms and other illnesses.
They are among six Londoners who have refused food for three months in a protest outside the US embassy against the treatment of an Iranian opposition group in Iraq.
Susan Alijani, 63, Farzaneh Majidi, 46, and Touran Ranjbar, 51, were taken by ambulance to University College Hospital and treated before being released early yesterday.
The women’s supporters say they are suffering painful symptoms of malnutrition but are determined to carry on with their protest.
Majidi’s husband Ahmad Ebrahim said his wife had a heart condition. “I know how determined she is,” he added. “Considering her heart condition, I pleaded to her not to go on hunger strike. But she said, ‘I cannot just sit and do nothing’.”
Organiser Laila Jazayeri said: “I do not want our colleagues to go through such a terrible ordeal or for anything to happen to any
of these hunger strikers but we cannot force them to eat. They are very determined to go to the end.”
She said Susan Alijani had been treated for cancer and this week suffered chest pain on her left side. One side of her face was numb.
Five women and one man have had only water and sugar lumps since September 1.
The protest began when 52 exiled Iranians were killed in a raid on Camp Ashraf, a desert settlement in Iraq occupied by dissidents opposed to their country’s rulers.
They are calling on the US to protect the remaining occupants and to seek the release of seven residents who were detained.
