Jassem Sawari, an Ahwazi Arab activist living abroad, announced on his page on the “X” platform that his uncle, Hamzeh Sawari, after 16 full days of no information about his condition in solitary confinement at Ghezel Hesar Prison, was returned on Tuesday, August 5, to Ward 4 of the prison.

According to the Sawari family, during this period, security agents and prison authorities exerted severe psychological and physical pressure on this Ahwazi Arab political prisoner in an attempt to force him to end his hunger strike and halt his protests.

Hamzeh Sawari had previously been transferred to solitary confinement along with other political prisoners in response to a raid by security forces and special guard units on the political ward, during which prisoners were beaten, had their hands and feet shackled, and bags placed over their heads. The prisoners had gone on a collective hunger strike to protest what they described as “systematic repression and violence.”

The pressures on Hamzeh Sawari come amid a family history of repression. Mohammad Ali Sawari, Jassem’s father, and Jaafar Sawari, another of his uncles, were both prominent figures in the 2005 uprising of the Ahwazi Arabs and were executed by the Islamic regime that same year.

Human rights organizations and the Sawari family, expressing deep concern for Hamzeh’s condition, have called for public attention and urgent action by human rights bodies to address the situation of Ahwazi Arab political prisoners in Iran.