Ahmad Reza Djalali begins hunger strike

Ahmad Reza Djalali, an Iranian-Swedish doctor specializing in disaster medicine, has begun a hunger strike following his death sentence in 2017.

Last year, Iran set a grim record, topping the world in execution figures. The country carried out at least 853 executions, representing three-quarters of all officially recorded executions worldwide. The Iranian government uses the death penalty to intimidate political opponents, especially since the women’s uprising in 2022, and to put pressure on Western states in diplomatic disputes.

Djalali, a 52-year-old doctor, is among the thousands of political prisoners currently on death row in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.

Djalali emigrated to Sweden in 2009 and joined the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. Over the years he has become one of the leading experts in disaster medicine in Europe. His work has been cited over 700 times in the medical literature and he played a key role in establishing the Emergency and Disaster Research Center at the University of Piedmont.

In Italy, Denmark and Sweden, Djalali helped hospitals and medical professionals prepare for earthquakes, nuclear accidents and terrorist attacks and designed several training programs in disaster medicine.

“Spread of corruption”

Although he settled in Sweden with his family, Djalali never forgot his Iranian roots. His doctoral thesis was dedicated to the victims of the 2003 Bam earthquake in Iran, which killed 23,000 people. He expressed a desire to share his knowledge with his Iranian colleagues to help people. Therefore, when he was invited to attend a conference at the University of Tehran in 2016, he accepted without hesitation.

Unfortunately, this decision had serious consequences. On April 25, 2016, just as he was finishing his trip to Iran, the researcher was arrested by intelligence agents. After being held incommunicado for several days, he was officially accused of passing on confidential information to Israeli intelligence. According to his family, this accusation was unfounded. They believed he was targeted because he refused to work for Iranian intelligence in Europe.

On October 21, 2017, Djalali was sentenced to death for “spreading corruption on earth,” a vague charge often used by Islamic courts against people who allegedly challenged the regime. A few days later, a video of his “confessions” was broadcast on Iranian television. These confessions had been coerced. Djalali later admitted that Iranian police had threatened to harm his mother in Iran and his family in Sweden.

Since then, Djalali and his family have been waiting anxiously for the moment when the regime could carry out the sentence. Over the years, he has appeared to be on the verge of execution several times, but each time he has been granted a last-minute reprieve.

His detention has taken a serious toll on his physical and mental health. He has reportedly lost 24 kg since his detention and his family, who receive only sporadic updates, suspect he is suffering from leukemia. Despite his deteriorating condition, the authorities have denied him access to a hematologist.

“Forgetting” in exchange

The international medical community has campaigned for Djalali’s release, but its efforts have so far been unsuccessful. The United Nations, the European Union, Amnesty International, several universities and the World Medical Association have called for his release. In 2018, Sweden granted him citizenship to increase pressure on Tehran, but Iranian law does not recognize dual citizenship.

On June 16, after nearly seven years on death row, Djalali told his family that he had begun a hunger strike. “This is the only way to make my voice heard in the world,” he explained. “As a doctor, Ahmad Reza knows only too well that his fragile physical condition makes a hunger strike potentially fatal, but he sees no other option. He suffers from cardiac arrhythmia, bradycardia, hypotension, chronic gastritis, anemia and extreme weight loss after his two previous hunger strikes,” his wife told the press.

Aside from a possible (and unlikely) appeal for clemency from the Iranian authorities, Djalali’s best hope lies in a prisoner exchange. The Iranian government frequently imprisons foreign nationals in order to exchange them for Iranians imprisoned in Western countries.

On June 15, Sweden agreed to release an Iranian dignitary serving a life sentence in exchange for the release of Swedish citizens imprisoned in Iran. Djalali’s family had long hoped that he would be included in the exchange.

However, in order not to jeopardise the agreement, the Swedish Prime Minister decided to only accept the release of two other Swedish citizens and left Djalali to his grim fate. “Prime Minister, you have decided to abandon me, even though you are taking an enormous risk of being executed,” Djalali replied bitterly, knowing that he could be hanged at any moment.

This story was translated by JIM Several editorial tools, including AI, were used. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.