Mazlum Dağ and Abdurrahman Er ended their 65-day-long hunger strike in a prison in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq’s (KRI) capital Erbil (Hewler) on Thursday, after their demands for improvement in prison conditions were met, their families told reporters.
Arrested in 2019, Dağ and Er started a hunger strike on 18 May against the rights violations they say they have been subjected to in prison.
The families of Dağ and Er came to Erbil this week and met with politicians and rights organisations to ask for support to meet the demands of their children.
The families stated that they were happy that the hunger strike of the prisoners, who were no longer in good health, had come to an end.
The Minister of Social Affairs of the KRI had announced the establishment of a commission to address the prisoners’ demands on Tuesday.
Among the violations that the pair protested against, according to their families, was being held together with the Islamic State (ISIS) detainees.
Dağ and Er had held two previous hunger strikes leading up to the most recent one they started in May.
The two Kurdish men were arrested following an attack on the Turkish Consulate General in Erbil, in the KRI, on 17 July 2019. Subsequently, the court of first instance sentenced Dağ and Er to death for their alleged involvement in the attack.
The Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) had previously issued a statement, holding the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) responsible for the health and safety of the political prisoners on hunger strike.
“The government, which considers itself the Kurdish authority, has given the death penalty to these Kurdish youth to fulfil the demands of the occupying Turkish state,” said the KCK in the statement. “The death penalty for two Kurdish youth is far from Kurdishness, patriotism and humanity.”
