Jailed Iranian Lawyer Soltani, Activists Start Hunger Strike

Abdolfattah Soltani (seen in an undated photo) co-founded the Center for Human Rights Defenders with Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi.

Four Iranian political prisoners, including prominent human right lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani, have begun a hunger strike to protest prison conditions.

Soltani's daughter Maede told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that the prisoners started the hunger strike on Soltani's 60th birthday on November 2 to protest a lack of medical care for dissidents at Tehran's Evin Prison and other jails.

Soltani co-founded the Center for Human Rights Defenders with Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi.

Soltani was arrested in 2011.

He was sentenced to 13 years in prison on various charges, including co-founding the rights group and propagating against the state.

In 2009, he received the Nuremberg International Human Rights Award, which included 15,000 euros ($20,600) in prize money.

His charges also include receiving "illegitimate" money in reference to that prize money.

With reporting by AP