The lives of multiple political prisoners are currently in danger as Iranian authorities are deliberately denying them adequate medical access. The authorities have a have a track record of denying prisoners medication, as a form of punishment.
Political prisoners Majid Asadi, Arash Sadeqi, Hassan Sadeqi, Mohammad Banazadeh Amirkhizi and Mohammad Habibi are among those denied treatment.
Reports indicate that Rajaie Shahr Prison officials have stepped up the pressure against political prisoners detained in Hall 10, Section 4 of this prison. Officials at the prison located in Karaj, have destroyed the prisoners’ medical records refusing to transfer them to the hospital or even the prison clinic.
Majid Asadi
Political prisoner Majid Asadi, suffering from a variety of diseases, including acute digestive disease with unbearable pain has been denied adequate medical treatment.
A former student activist, Majid Asadi, 36, has currently been serving a 6-year sentence on charge of “acting against national security” at Rajaie Shahr Prison of Karaj. He was arrested in February 2017 without a warrant by Intelligence Ministry agents at his home in Karaj.
The Intelligence Ministry previously arrested Asadi, on July 3, 2008 while he was a student activist at Allameh Tabatabaie University in Tehran. He was released approximately three months later on bail.
In March 2010, Judge Abolqasem Salavati of Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court sentenced Asadi to four years in prison for “assembly and collusion against national security.”
Asadi began his prison term on October 5, 2011 after the Appeals Court upheld his sentence and completed the sentence on June 8, 2015.
Ebrahim Firouzi
Political prisoner Ebrahim Firouzi, held at Rajaie Shahr Prison, has been denied adequate medical access despite severe toothache. He has been imprisoned since 2014 without a single day of leave.
According to an informed source, due to being denied access to a specialist, his entire face hurts, affecting his ability to eat.
The 32-year-old welder has been held in Ward 12 for political prisoners in Rajaie Shahr Prison in Karaj, 32 miles west of Tehran, since 2014. He has been prosecuted three times since 2010 for converting from Islam to Christianity and allegedly organizing Christian religious meetings.
When he was first arrested in January 2010, interrogators offered Firouzi freedom if he declared himself a Muslim. He chose prosecution and was convicted by the Revolutionary Court in Karaj of “propaganda against the state” for his religious conversion and alleged missionary activities and sentenced to five months in prison with an additional five-month suspended prison sentence.
Firouzi was freed on June 8, 2011, but on March 8, 2012 he was arrested again for allegedly “attempting to create a website teaching about Christianity” (in order to convert people) and again charged with “propaganda against the state.”
He was sentenced to one year in prison and two years in exile by Judge Hassan Babaie of the Revolutionary Court in Robat Karim, 16 miles southwest of Tehran. The decision was upheld on appeal.
The third arrest took place on September 16, 2014. During interrogations in Evin Prison’s Ward 240, Firouzi was put under intense pressure to issue a false confession in return for freedom, but refused, according to an informed source.
In April 2015, Firouzi was sentenced to five years in prison for allegedly “creating a group with the intention of disturbing national security” by Judge Mohammad Moghiseh of Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court.
Based on the decision by the Appeals Court, Firouzi will remain incarcerated until 2019.
Arash Sadeqi
Prison authorities prevented Arash Sadeghi of a pre-arranged appointment with a specialist in Tehran’s Khomeini hospital on October 6. Prosecutor’s office reportedly did not issue the required permission for Arash Sadeghi to be taken to hospital.
The human rights defender is suffering a serious infection in his surgical wound.
This is not the first time that the authorities are torturing Sadeghi by deliberately depriving him of medical treatment.
The authorities have continuously denied the 31-year-old vital medical care since he went on hunger strike in late 2016 protesting the imprisonment of Golrokh Ebhraimi Iraee, also a human rights defender and his wife.
In a September 26 statement, Amnesty International called on Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Arash Sadeghi who is “is being solely punished for his peaceful human rights activities, including communicating with Amnesty International and providing the organization with information on the human rights situation in Iran.”
“The Iranian authorities’ treatment of Arash Sadeghi’s is not only unspeakably cruel; in legal terms it is an act of torture. Every step of the way, the prison authorities, the prosecutor’s office and the Revolutionary Guards have done everything they can to hinder and limit access to the essential treatment that Arash requires in order to address his life-threatening cancer,” said Philip Luther, Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
“The Iranian authorities’ treatment of Arash Sadeghi’s is not only unspeakably cruel; in legal terms it is an act of torture. Every step of the way, the prison authorities, the prosecutor’s office and the Revolutionary Guards have done everything they can to hinder and limit access to the essential treatment that Arash requires in order to address his life-threatening cancer,” said Philip Luther, Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
Hassan Sadeqi
Hassan Sadeqi, also held at Rajaie Shahr Prison, is at risk of tearing of the eye veins and blindness because of the blows to his head and his eyes by interrogators.
Sadeqi and his wife were detained in 2012 for holding a ceremony for Mr. Sadeqi’s deceased dissident father. His father was a member of the MEK. Both he and his wife were sentenced to 15 years of prison while his business was confiscated and their 11 and 16-year-old children were left without guardians.
Mohammad Banazadeh Amirkhizi
He is in severe condition due to heart disease and old age.
Mohammad Banazadeh Amirkhizi was arrested in 2016 and sentenced to 11 years behind bars on charges of with “acting against national security by gathering and conspiring” and “spreading propaganda against the government.”
Mohammad Amirkhizi, 63, was arrested in 2009 charged with supporting the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). He was released in 2014, after spending five years behind bars. Earlier, Amirkhizi’s wife and his brothers were also imprisoned who were later released. The family was charged with meeting Amirkhizi’s children in PMOI’s Camp Ashraf in Iraq.
Mohammad Habibi
Imprisoned Iranian teacher and trade unionist Mohammad Habibi is in poor health and is being denied the urgent specialized medical care he needs
On October 1, Amnesty International issued an “Urgent Action” statement regarding the case of Mohammad Habibi, who is serving a 10 and a half year sentence on the basis of his labor rights activism and his membership on the board of the Iran Teachers Trade Association.
He is reportedly suffering from health conditions that require specialized care, some of which may stem from his violent arrest, apparently at the hands of the intelligence division of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Amnesty report provides details about that arrest, in which Habibi was abducted by agents who did not initially identify themselves or provide a reason for the arrest. Since that incident, the detainee has been complaining of severe pain in his chest and difficulty in breathing, but authorities have only responded by providing him with a non-prescription inhaler. Additionally, a general practicing doctor has identified signs of a kidney ailment for which Habibi likely requires specialized treatment, but authorities have ignored the doctor’s urgent recommendation.
Source » iran-hrm