The Swedish researcher Ahmadreza Djalali is going to start a hunger strike in the Iranian prison where he is locked up.
At the same time, his wife protests at home in Sweden, to get an explanation as to why he was left behind.
– I can’t close my eyes and say I don’t care, because it’s my children’s father, says Vida Mehrannia.
The Swedish-Iranian KI researcher Ahmadreza Djalali remained in Evin prison, where he has been sitting since 2016, sentenced to death. At home in Sweden, his children and wife, Vida Mehrannia, have been waiting for him for over eight years.
– For 3,000 days I have suffered. I had hope and now I have lost it, says Vida Mehrannia.
Now Djalali will start a hunger strike in prison.
– He is very disappointed. He will start a hunger strike, because he wants Sweden and the world to hear him. He is very weak but he has to, because he is ignored, says Vida Mehrannia.
Dangerous to his health
But after so many years in captivity, Djalali’s health is greatly deteriorated and now his wife worries about the consequences of the hunger strike.
– It is so dangerous for him, but I know he has no other choice, she says and adds:
– He looks like skin and bones.
“Now I have to fight”
For several days, Vida Mehrannia has been protesting outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Stockholm.
– We get no explanation, no respect for me and human rights, she says.
She wants answers to why her husband was left behind.
– They didn’t talk to us. They should release all the prisoners. How is it possible that they left him? I don’t accept it, she says.
And despite the sadness and hopelessness she feels, she is determined to keep going.
– I had a hope that they would let him go. Now I have to fight again. I am very tired but I have no other choice. I can’t close my eyes and say I don’t care, because it’s my children’s father, says Vida Mehrannia.