ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A group of Kurdish political prisoners in Iran has warned it will continue a 26-day hunger strike unless authorities move them away from felons convicted of non-political crimes.

The prisoners are serving sentences in the Urumiye State Prison for allegedly supporting the outlawed Kurdish political parties in Iran.

“We have tried to rally support for these political prisoners both internationally and in Iran,” said Khalid Azizi, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party-Iran (KDPI). “Our influence in Iranian Kurdistan is limited due to state oppression,” he added.

Relatives of the prisoners who spoke to Rudaw said the detainees suffer from deteriorated health conditions and are unable to stand up or walk as they have refused to eat or drink for nearly a month. Officials have moved a number of the inmates to the prison hospital.

Activists in Iran have accused authorities of deliberately incarcerating political prisoners together with convicted drug traffickers and murderers to degrade their morale.

“Kurdish parties should have made an international case of their hunger strike,” said Khalid Muhammadzadeh, a Kurdish human rights activists based in the Kurdistan Region. “After all, they have not asked to be released, but to be separated from low-life criminals,” he added.

Iranian authorities have rejected the demands and warned that if the strike continues, they will implement execution verdicts which authorities have decided to postpone for some of the inmates.

Kurdish political parties are strictly forbidden under Iranian law and offenders often receive life or execution sentences.

Kurdish activists Farzad Kamangar and Sherko Moarefi were executed last year, despite protests from international human rights organizations.

Rudaw