Political prisoner MirYousef Younesi in critical condition on third day of hunger strike in Evin Prison

Hengaw - Friday, May 16, 2025

MirYousef Younesi, a 70-year-old political prisoner and father of jailed student Ali Younesi, is in critical health condition as he enters the third day of a hunger strike in Tehran’s Evin Prison. He is suffering from dangerously low blood pressure and blood sugar levels.

According to reports received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Younesi began his hunger strike on May 13, 2025, to protest his violent transfer from Ward 4 to Ward 7—an area deemed unsuitable for elderly and ill inmates. The transfer occurred during a weekly family visitation and was carried out with the use of force. Since the transfer, he has faced severe restrictions on basic rights, including access to proper nutrition, phone calls, and outdoor time.

His daughter, Ayda Younesi, reported on her X (formerly Twitter) account that her father’s blood sugar and pressure have dropped dangerously low. Given his diabetes, she warned that his life is at serious risk and urged that the pressure on him be lifted and that he be returned to Ward 4.

MirYousef Younesi was previously arrested by security forces on December 28, 2022, in Shahrud. After a year of pre-trial detention, Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, sentenced him to five years in prison.

He is the father of Ali Younesi, a Sharif University computer science student and gold medalist of the International Astronomy Olympiad, who was arrested in April 2020. Ali was later sentenced to 16 years in prison on charges of “sabotage,” “assembly and collusion against the state,” and “propaganda against the state.” Under Iran’s sentence aggregation laws, the maximum executable sentence is 10 years, which he is currently serves in Evin Prison.