Nottingham, U.K.
An Iranian dissident poet has sewn his eyes, ears, and mouth shut to protest his possible deportation from Britain. Abas Amini was granted asylum last month, but the British government decided to appeal the decision. Amini, an Iranian Kurd, said that if he was sent back to Iran he would be executed for his past political activism. “I spent many years in prison being tortured,” he told the BBC. “I don’t know what I have to do anymore for my situation to be resolved so I can live like a human being.” Despite developing an infection in one of his sewn eyelids, Amini has refused all medicine, even painkillers, and embarked on a hunger strike.
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