Six Iranians - including a 17-year-old boy - who have been refused political asylum in Britain after escaping imprisonment, torture, and threat of death in Iran have been on hunger strike since 5th April 2011 and some have sewn their lips shut with fishing wire in protest of their repression.
The men were tortured, beaten and in one case raped following the anti-regime protests that swept Iran in 2009.
Though their lives will be in danger should they return to Iran, they have been ignored, dismissed and let down by UK authorities since they sought refuge in this country last year.
These hunger strikes symbolize the increasing desperation of Iranian asylum seekers towards the ‘culture of disbelief’ displayed by the Home Office, under which a large majority of asylum applications are summarily rejected, following unfair assessment and ‘credibility’ tests and often disregard of physical evidence in support of a claim.
This is a question of basic human rights: The UK claims to support anti-regime protesters across the Middle East, and encourages their struggles in the name of human rights – their approach should not be different when the victims of these regimes seek shelter here.
Their health is deteriorating rapidly, and they see no other option but to risk their lives to stay in the UK and avoid deportation and possible execution in Iran.
