Akbar Mohammadi

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Akbar Mohammadi

Akbar Mohammadi (in Persian: اکبر محمدی) (born 1972 - died July 30, 2006) was an Iranian student involved in 18th of Tir crisis in Tehran University. He was given a death sentence for his role in the Iran student riots, July 1999 - Iran's biggest pro-democracy demonstrations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. His sentence was later reduced to 15 years in prison.

On July 30 2006, he died at Evin prison at the age of 37. He had been on a hunger strike for more than a week, protesting the refusal by the Revolutionary Islamic Regime to allow him to seek proper medical treatment for life threatening injuries suffered as a result of torture. Mr. Mohammadi's attorney, Khalil Bahramian, said that according to fellow detainees of his client, he "had been savagely beaten by prison guards in the past few days and that he was carrying the signs of the beatings"^[1]^[2].

Mr. Mohammadi's violent death has caused a major outcry in Iran^[3], where the violation of Human Rights by the fundamentalist regime continues to be significant. As of 3 August 2006, Human Rights Watch has called on the Iranian government to allow immediately for an "independent investigation into the suspicious death in prison of student activist Akbar Mohammadi"^[4]. This call has been supported by hundreds of leading Iranian personalities and groups ^[5].