Mokhtar Al-Boshokeh, an Arab political prisoner, on day six of a hunger strike in Arak prison

Seyed Mokhtar Al-Boshokeh, an Arab political prisoner from Khuzestan and a member of the "Al-Hiwar" cultural and artistic institute in Ramshir, has been on hunger strike in Arak prison since Tuesday, 6 October 2026. According to the HRANA news agency, his hunger strike reached its sixth day on Sunday, 11 October, and he is being held in solitary confinement in unsanitary conditions.

According to an informed source who spoke to HRANA, Mr Al-Boshokeh suffers from kidney pain and several ailments, including a hernia, which requires surgery. He began the strike in protest at not being returned to Sheiban prison in Ahvaz.

Forced exile transfer to Arak prison

According to HRANA, in February 2026 this political prisoner was transferred on the orders of security bodies from Sheiban prison in Ahvaz to Arak prison and placed in the ward for drug offenders — a move that, according to HRANA's source, goes against the principle of separating categories of crime and came after news of his case spread on social media. He had earlier gone on hunger strike once to be returned to Ahvaz and ended it after six days on the prison officials' promise — a promise that, according to the same source, was not kept and led to the new strike.

After 15 years in prison, Mokhtar Al-Boshokeh is on hunger strike in solitary confinement with an untreated illness.

Background to the case

Mr Al-Boshokeh was arrested in 2010 together with Mohammad Ali Amouri and Jaber Al-Boshokeh. The Revolutionary Court sentenced all three to death; the sentences were later reduced by one degree to life imprisonment. He spent 15 years of this sentence in Sheiban prison in Ahvaz. According to HRANA, in August 2026 the life sentence of his and his two co-defendants was reduced to 25 years and one day in prison.

Pressure on political prisoners has continued in recent weeks, including the arrest of Mostafa Mehrayin to serve a prison sentence and the transfer of Zhila Movaghan to solitary confinement in Dowlatabad prison in Isfahan.

Sources

• HRANA