Prominent anti-Khamenei Iranian activist Mohammad Nourizad attempts suicide in prison

Prominent Iranian political prisoner Mohammad Nourizad has attempted suicide in prison to protest the treatment of political prisoners in Iran, according to his wife.

Nourizad was one of 14 activists inside Iran that called on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to resign in June 2019. All 14 activists were arrested.

Nourizad has attempted suicide in prison by cutting his wrist, his wife Fatemeh Maleki told Radio Farda on Saturday.

Nourizad’s lawyer was able to meet him following the suicide attempt in prison in the city of Mashhad, Maleki said.

Nourizad told his lawyer that his suicide attempt was not about himself, but rather for the sake of all political prisoners in Iran, according to Maleki.

“My goal was to highlight the oppression political prisoners endure and the pressures they are subjected to,” Nourizad said to his lawyer, according to Maleki.

Nourizad was one of 14 activists inside Iran that called on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to resign in June 2019. (File photo: Reuters)

 

In an audio message published late April, Nourizad had said that he would commit suicide to protest the harassment of his family by Iran’s security apparatus.

Nourizad’s son, Ali Nourizad, was recently sentenced to three and a half years in prison for taking part in Iran’s January protests after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) admitted to shooting down a Ukrainian passenger plane.