LOS ANGELES, June 11: The heir to Iran’s throne, Reza Pahlavi, denounced Tehran’s looming presidential polls as ‘theatrics’ as he launched a hunger strike on Friday to support opponents of the government. In an interview, the son of the last shah of Iran called for a boycott of next week’s polls organised by the government that toppled his father in a 1979 revolution that sent the imperial family into exile.

The 44-year-old royal said he would not eat or drink, save for water to avoid dehydration, for three days between Friday to Sunday to draw attention to the lack of human, civic and political rights of Iranians.

“This is in solidarity with political prisoners inside Iran, to demand their freedom and protest the lack of human rights and political liberties in Iran,” he said at the start of his protest.

“My message to the people is that this transcends any kind of political grouping or ideology. We are all in it together as Iranians,” he said, calling for Iranians to stay away from the June 17 poll.

Pahlavi was poised to carry out his hunger strike publicly outside government buildings in Los Angeles, the hub of a region that is home to around 600,000 Iranian expatriates.

“We believe the boycott of the elections will be a very strong signal aimed at indicating to the world that Iranians are not going to give what the regime expects our of these theatrics: to claim legitimacy solely on the basis that people are participating,” he said.

Four hardliners are among the candidates in the election.—AFP