On Saturday, November 23, the hunger strike of PMOI members in Camp Liberty enters its thirteenth week. Release of the seven Ashraf hostages who were taken hostage on September 1 by forces under Maliki’s command is on top of the list of demands of the hunger strikers in Camp Liberty and in other countries.

On Friday, November 22, many of the hunger strikers were in serious and critical condition:

–       Mr. Alireza Ghafourizadeh, had severe convulsion and was quickly transferred to the Iraqi clinic in Camp Liberty. His condition remains unstable.

–       A few hours prior to that, Ms. Melika Rezaei, 23, was expeditiously transferred to Baghdad hospital because of her critical condition and severe shortage of breath.

–       On that same day, Ms. Fahimeh Khademi had her condition turn critical for the fourth time in just one week. She had been transferred to the clinic a few days ago.

–       Ms. Mahnaz Abouzarian, was also transferred to the clinic due to feebleness and severe chest pain and shortage of breath.

–       Mr. Eskandar Arjomandi who has lost considerable weight was transferred to the clinic in critical condition.

–       Mr. Mohammad-Ali Aghaei fell down breaking a rib due to blurry vision and dizziness and was subsequently transferred to the Iraqi clinic.

–       Mr. Yadollah Mahdian and Mr. Ehsan Ghassemie were among those whose conditions turned serious.

According to physicians in Camp Liberty, during last week, condition of many hunger strikers took a turn for the worst and around 200 were placed under medical care; seventy of them are in serious and critical condition. In addition to those placed under medical supervision of camp doctors, some of the hunger strikers were examined in camp’s Iraqi clinic with a number of them transferred to Baghdad hospitals on an emergency basis; physicians described their conditions as dangerous.

Among these are Misses Farideh Nemati, Rana Mirderikvand, Maliheh Tadayyon, Zahrah Kazemi, Forough Seyyedi, Mahrokh Ghafari, Hourieh Afzali, Ms. Sousan Bani-Hashemi, and Messrs. Hamid Oraizi, Amin Abdoli, Iraj Akhlaqi, Gholamreza Ghaderi, Haidar Yousef-Ali, Yaghoub Dadgar, Mehdi Seyyedi, Alireza Gholami, Saleh Abdoli, Ehsan Ghassemi, Yadollah Mahdian, Iman Nematollahi, Ali Mamaghani, Alireza Arjomandi, Shamseddin Latifian, Mohammadreza Khaleghi, Gholamreza Ghassemi, Hassan Hairani, Mehdi Ghassemian, Alireza Pourjafar, Abolfazl Saddolah, Asghar Mohammadi and Majid Norouzi who due to too much weight loss are having severe muscle pain, chest pain, severe narcosis, temporary unconsciousness, severe hypotension, digestive pains arising from ulcer, etc. and have been sent to the Iraqi clinic or Baghdad hospital.

In general, hunger strikers are suffering from insomnia, headaches, dizziness, numbness, organ contractions, chest pain, loss of consciousness, diminishing vision and hearing abilities, muscle, bone and joint pains, tachycardia, fever, hypotension, and inability to focus and life of many of them is now in serious jeopardy. According to physicians, many of them will soon get to the point of no return; a matter that is more serious for female hunger strikers.

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