The Iranian Writers’ Association (IWA) has announced the death of filmmaker, poet and IWA member, Baktash Abtin in hospital. He was in a medically induced coma after being denied timely medical treatment for COVID-19 by Evin Prison authorities.
Iran Human Rights condemns the arrest and ill-treatment of dissidents, denying prisoners medical treatment, and calls on the international community to apply maximum pressure for their release.
“Baktash Abtin’s death was caused by being arrested for expressing his opinion and being denied medical treatment in prison, his death is an extrajudicial killing. The authorities that detained him and their leader, Ali Khamenei, are responsible for Baktash Abtin’s death and must be held accountable,” said Iran Human Rights Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.
In a statement published today, the Iranian Writers’ Association announced the death of human rights defender Baktash Abtin in hospital.
Baktash Abtin contracted COVID-19 for the second time in early December 2021 while serving his six-year sentence in Evin Prison. Abtin was granted medical furlough on December 13, when he was transferred to a hospital.
On January 1, the Iranian Writers’ Association reported that Abtin was in a medical induced coma after his health had “further deteriorated.”
In a statement four days later, they announced that Abtin’s physical condition had reached a “severely alarming” stage due to the lack of timely access to medical care and the delay in being transferred to the hospital by prison officials.
Baktash was tried by Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Moghiseh with his co-defendants and IWA colleagues, Reza Khandan Mahabadi and Keyvan Bajan on 22 January 2019. Baktash was sentenced to five years imprisonment for “assembly and collusion against national security” and a year for “propaganda against the system’’ by the same court on 15 May 2019. His sentence was upheld by Judge Ahmad Zargar when it was heard before Branch 36 of the Tehran Court of Appeal in December 2019.
Baktash was arrested and transferred to serve his sentence in Evin Prison on
26 September 2020. He was prevented from receiving outside treatment for another health issue for four months before he was finally transferred to the Shohadaye Tajrish Hospital on July 18, where he was shackled to the bed.
It is not unprecedented for prisoners to die as a result of being denied medical treatment or transferred to hospitals or specialists.
Source » iranhr