Hossein Ronaghi’s wet hunger strike reaches 17th day as health declines
Hengaw – Saturday, September 20, 2025
Hossein Ronaghi, a political prisoner held in Karaj’s Ghezel Hesar Prison, has entered the seventeenth day of his wet hunger strike, and his condition is reported to be deteriorating rapidly.
According to information obtained by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Ronaghi began the protest on Saturday, September 2, 2025. Sources said his health has worsened due to severe weight loss and the harsh conditions in the ward. On Friday, the sixteenth day of the strike, his blood pressure was measured at 9 over 6.
Ahmadreza Haeri, a Kurdish political prisoner also held in Ghezel Hesar, described Ronaghi’s state in a letter, a copy of which was received by Hengaw:
“For the past two months, Hossein has shared a cell with me — a space so cramped we call it the ‘living grave.’ I have seen him take nothing but a few sugar cubes, some salt, and a little water or tea. In recent days, when he could no longer walk to the infirmary, a medical orderly came to check his vital signs in the cell. His blood pressure was about 9 over 6. Given the severe weight loss and the psychological pressure from the executions of our fellow inmates — which affect us all — Hossein is now entering a critical stage of this protest.”
Ronaghi, a 40-year-old political activist from Iran’s Turk community, was sentenced by Branch 15 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Abolqasem Salavati, to five years in prison for “assembly and collusion against national security” and one year for “propaganda against the state,” in connection with the Woman, Life, Freedom (Jin, Jiyan, Azadi) movement. On September 5, 2025, Branch 23 of the same court gave him an additional one-year term for “propaganda activity against the regime.”
He and his brother, Hassan Ronaghi, were arrested by Intelligence Ministry agents in Tehran on the evening of Tuesday, June 24, 2025, and taken to one of the ministry’s detention facilities.
