Iranian women’s rights defender enters the 60th-day hunger strike

Farhad Meysami, a medical doctor who was detained in July for protesting against laws forcing Iranian women to wear the hijab, has been on a hunger strike since August 1 and is now in very frail health and has lost 18 kilograms while being held in a medical clinic at Tehran’s Evin prison, where he is being force-fed intravenously.

photo : facebook

Farhad Meysami’s only ‘crime’ is speaking out against Iran’s degrading and discriminatory practice of forced hijab and defending women’s rights to choose their own clothing.

Meysami was arrested on July 31 at his Tehran home, where security forces found badges reading “I Am Against Forced Hijab.”

He was charged with “spreading propaganda against the system” and “gathering and colluding to commit crimes against national security” and “insulting the hijab as an indispensable Islamic principle.”