Outrage over pictures of an emaciated Iranian prisoner on a hunger strike

 

Social media posts allegedly showing an emaciated prisoner Iranian dissident on a hunger strike have sparked fury online as supporters warned on Friday that he risks dying because of his opposition to the hijab's mandatory wear.

Farhad Meysami, 53, started his hunger strike on October 7 to protest recent government deaths of protesters, according to the dissident's lawyer. Meysami has been imprisoned since 2018 for supporting female activists who opposed Iran's headscarf ban.

On the same day that Iranian award-winning filmmaker Jafar Panahi was released on bail after serving seven months in prison, pictures of Meysami went viral on social media. Panahi claimed that Meysami's pictures made him think of Auschwitz concentration camp survivors.

The images, according to the judiciary of Iran, were taken four years prior to the alleged hunger strike, when Meysami, a doctor, actually went on a hunger strike.

As proof, the semi-official YJC news agency published what it claimed to be Meysami's most recent photo, in which he is seated on the floor of his cell with a bag of what appears to be chips next to him and does not appear to be emaciated.

When the photos were shot is unknown to Reuters.

After beginning a hunger strike this week to urge his release until a retrial, Panahi was granted bail by Iranian authorities, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency and the Directors Guild of Iran.

Although the Iranian judiciary has not officially announced Panahi's release, footage posted on social media purport to show him speaking to supporters outside Evin prison.

Given that Farhad Meysami has written on nonviolence, Panahi noted, "The images of Farhad Meysami... remind one of the people in Auschwitz or of (Mahatma) Gandhi." "How can I say I'm happy while so many others are still in jail?"

Panahi was imprisoned by Iranian officials in July to fulfil a 2010 court ruling that he serve a six-year sentence for "propaganda against the government." The decision was overturned by Iran's highest court in October, which also mandated a new trial.