Nine female political prisoners have started a hunger strike to protest their conditions in Tehran's Evin prison.
The Iranian website Kaleme.org reports that the women stopped eating after they were beaten and insulted by guards.
Jailed Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh started a hunger strike in the same prison last week after prison authorities banned her relatives from visiting.
Sotoudeh began serving a six-year jail term in 2010.
A European Union delegation canceled its visit to Tehran last week after Iranian authorities rejected its request to meet Sotoudeh and the jailed filmmaker, Jafar Panahi.
The European Parliament awarded Sotoudeh and Panahi the 2012 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought last month.
The Iranian website Kaleme.org reports that the women stopped eating after they were beaten and insulted by guards.
Jailed Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh started a hunger strike in the same prison last week after prison authorities banned her relatives from visiting.
Sotoudeh began serving a six-year jail term in 2010.
A European Union delegation canceled its visit to Tehran last week after Iranian authorities rejected its request to meet Sotoudeh and the jailed filmmaker, Jafar Panahi.
The European Parliament awarded Sotoudeh and Panahi the 2012 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought last month.