Farhad Meysami, a physician and human rights activist, began a dry hunger strike Sept. 8 to protest his imprisonment on the charge of spreading “propaganda against the establishment.” Meysami was arrested in July for possession and distribution of a badge stating his opposition to the compulsory hijab and for expressing solidarity with the protests against mandatory veiling earlier this year, which resulted in the arrests of 29 women.

While Meysami’s hunger strike, which began as a wet hunger strike July 31, is notable for its longevity and resonance among women’s rights activists in Iran, it is only one of a string of such actions undertaken by political prisoners and human rights campaigners since the May 2017 presidential election. Last summer, 17 opposition activists in Rajai Shahr prison participated in hunger strikes against living conditions in detention facilities. In late August, Kurdish dissident Ramin Hossein Panahi initiated a hunger strike in prison for being convicted of “acting against national security.” (Panahi was executed Sept. 8.) 

Although the motivations for each of these hunger strikes varies greatly, ideological synergies and expressions of solidarity between activists suggest that the hunger strikes represent a burgeoning civil disobedience movement. This movement appears to have gained cross-factional appeal for two reasons: its stringent commitment to apolitical activism and its impassioned support for homegrown democratization in Iran, as opposed to foreign-imposed.

Even though hunger strikers such as Meysami and human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh supported the Green Movement protests, they have formally renounced any connection with any political faction. This apolitical activism is modeled after the hunger strikes of spiritual leader Mohammad Ali Taheri, who has urged followers of his Erfan Keyhani movement to push for religious freedom through civil, rather than political, resistance.