Images of Emaciated Iranian Prisoner on Hunger Strike Prompt Outrage

The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. (Reuters)
The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. (Reuters)
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Images of Emaciated Iranian Prisoner on Hunger Strike Prompt Outrage

The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. (Reuters)
The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. (Reuters)

Social media images purported to be of an emaciated jailed Iranian physician who went on hunger strike in support of demonstrations against the compulsory wearing of the hijab have caused outrage and warnings that he risks death.

Farhad Meysami, 53, who has been in jail since 2018 for supporting women activists protesting against the headscarf policy, began his hunger strike on Oct. 7 to protest recent government killings of demonstrators, his lawyer said.

But the Iranian judiciary denied the hunger strike claim and said the photos that have gone viral on social media were from four years ago when Meysami did go on hunger strike.

As evidence, the semi-official student-led news agency Young Journalists Club posted what it said was Meysami's latest photo, in which he does not look emaciated and is seen sitting on the floor of his prison cell with a bag of what looks like chips next to him.

Reuters was unable to confirm when the pictures were taken.

Iran has been rocked by nationwide unrest following the death of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16 in police custody, posing one of the strongest challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution.

Amini was arrested by morality police for flouting the hijab policy, which requires women to dress modestly and wear headscarves. Women have played a prominent role in the protests, many of them waving or burning their headscarves.

Rights groups say more than 500 protesters have been killed and nearly 20,000 arrested. At least four people have been hanged, according to the Iranian judiciary.

"My client Farhad Meysami’s life is in danger,” tweeted lawyer Mohammad Moghimi. "He went on hunger strike to protest the recent government killings in the streets." He said Meysami had lost 52 kg (115 lb).

Images of Meysami show him curled up on what looks like a hospital bed, and another standing, his ribs protruding.

"Shocking images of Dr. Farhad Meysami, a brave advocate for women's rights who has been on hunger strike in prison,” tweeted Robert Malley, Washington's special envoy for Iran.

"Iran's regime has unjustly denied him and thousands of other political prisoners their rights and their freedom. Now it unjustly threatens his life,” he said.

In a letter published by BBC's Persian Service, Meysami made three demands: an end to executions, release of political-civil prisoners, and an end to “forced-hijab harassment”.

"I will continue my impossible mission in the hope that it may become possible later on with a collective effort,” he wrote.

On Thursday, the activist HRANA news agency reported that Iranian film director Jafar Panahi had started a hunger strike in prison to protest against authorities' refusal to release him temporarily on bail pending a retrial.

Panahi was detained in July and told he would serve a six-year prison sentence originally issued by a Tehran court in 2010 amid a stepped-up crackdown on dissent.



Torrential Rains Trigger Flash Floods in Kashmir, Killing Scores

Buildings damaged in flash floods caused by torrential rains are seen in a remote, mountainous village, in Chositi area, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP Photo)
Buildings damaged in flash floods caused by torrential rains are seen in a remote, mountainous village, in Chositi area, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP Photo)
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Torrential Rains Trigger Flash Floods in Kashmir, Killing Scores

Buildings damaged in flash floods caused by torrential rains are seen in a remote, mountainous village, in Chositi area, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP Photo)
Buildings damaged in flash floods caused by torrential rains are seen in a remote, mountainous village, in Chositi area, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP Photo)

Flash floods caused by torrential rains in a remote village in India-controlled Kashmir have left at least 44 people dead and dozens missing, authorities said Thursday, as rescue teams scouring the devastated Himalayan village brought at least 200 people to safety.

Following a cloudburst in the region’s Chositi village, which triggered floods and landslides, disaster management official Mohammed Irshad estimated that at least 50 people were still missing, with many believed to have been washed away.

India’s deputy minister for science and technology, Jitendra Singh, warned that the disaster “could result in substantial" loss of life.

At least 50 of the rescued people, many of whom were found in a stream under mud and debris, were seriously injured and were being treated in local hospitals, said Susheel Kumar Sharma, a local official.

Chositi is a remote Himalayan village in Kashmir’s Kishtwar district and is the last village accessible to motor vehicles on the route of an ongoing annual Hindu pilgrimage to a mountainous shrine at an altitude of 3,000 meters (9,500 feet) and about an 8-kilometer (5-mile) trek from the village.

Multiple pilgrims were also feared to be affected by the disaster.

Officials said that the pilgrimage had been suspended and more rescue teams were on the way to the area to strengthen rescue and relief operations. The pilgrimage began on July 25 and was scheduled to end on Sept. 5, The Associated Press reported.

The first responders to the disaster were villagers and local officials who were later joined by police and disaster management officials, as well as personnel from India’s military and paramilitary forces, Sharma said.

Abdul Majeed Bichoo, a local resident and a social activist from a neighboring village, said that he witnessed the bodies of eight people being pulled out from under the mud. Three horses, which were also completely buried alongside them under debris, were “miraculously recovered alive,” he said.

The 75-year-old Bichoo said Chositi village had become a “sight of complete devastation from all sides” following the disaster.

“It was heartbreaking and an unbearable sight. I have not seen this kind of destruction of life and property in my life,” he said.

The devastating floods swept away the main community kitchen set up for the pilgrims as well as dozens of vehicles and motorbikes, officials said. They added that more than 200 pilgrims were in the kitchen when the tragedy struck. The flash floods also damaged and washed away many homes, clustered together in the foothills.

Photos and videos circulating on social media showed extensive damage caused in the village with multiple vehicles and homes damaged.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that “the situation is being monitored closely” and offered his prayers to “all those affected by the cloudburst and flooding.”

“Rescue and relief operations are underway. Every possible assistance will be provided to those in need,” he said in a social media post.