In an open letter, 150 civil rights activists and families of political prisoners expressed concern over the deterioration of Arash Sadeghi’s physical condition, demanding his immediate transfer to the hospital. Arash Sadeghi is a civil activist suffering from bone cancer. Sadeghi is imprisoned in Rajai Shahr.
Arash Sadeghi has been held in Rajai Shahr Prison, and prison officials refuse to transfer him to the hospital for chemo and radiation treatment despite medical team’s recommendations.
Arash Sadeghi’s wife, Golrokh Ebrahimi-Iraie, tweeted: “Despite our overwhelming patience, prosecutors and judicial officers (interrogators of the case) continue to oppose Arash’s release (to the hospital). This, while Arash’s life (not his health) is in danger. Disabled, increased infections, and scans are not performed to ensure the tumor does not recur.”
Hrana, the independent Iranian Human Rights Activist News Agency has published a full transcript of this letter, along with the names of the signatories. The letter reads as follows:
“One year after Arash’s surgery and more than two years after the onset of the disease, he continues to be denied access to specialized treatment and deprived of treatment that is his basic rights as a prisoners.
Disregard for the treatment has caused Arash’s infection to worsen; his right arm has swollen, numb, and immobilized from the shoulder to the fingertips.
He has been using oral antibiotics continuously for the past year. But this type of treatment has is insufficient due to the high rate of infection and chronic illness, increasing the incidence and severity of the illness, making the treatment impossible, hence diminishing his chance of recovery.
The incident began when security agents returned him to prison without regard for the medical team’s opinion that he should remain in hospital.
Since then, the surgical wound has infected and is worsening by the day. The doctor prescribed chemotherapy, which was refused and prevented by the authorities.
Also, because of suspicion of tumor recurrence in other parts of the body, his physician required him to perform a full scan of the entire body. This scan should be performed every four months. Short of treatment, the scan failed and the treatment was stopped, the right hand was disabled and the body no longer reacted to the antibiotic and was weak and lethargic due to drug side effects.
We, a group of activists and families of political prisoners, hereby express our concern about the deterioration of Arash Sadeghi’s condition and call for immediate medical attention.
Obviously, our objection to the loss of Arash’s health and his being in dangerous situations at any moment can lead to an irreparable situation. Therefore, we would like to take the necessary steps to dispatch Arash’s treatment without delay and formalities in carrying through the complete recovery process.
The responsibility of Arash Sadeghi life lies with the prison authority, the judicial authorities, the prosecution (which is legally responsible for issuing licenses to political prisoners) and the judiciary.”
In connection with Arash Sadeghi, the activist imprisoned in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment by the Revolutionary Court, which was extended to five years after his previous six-year suspended sentence. If Article 1 (Sentencing) is applied, this period will be reduced to 5 years and 6 months, however, there is still no word on the application of this Article to Mr. Sadeghi.
He is currently in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj having undergone surgery for malignant bone cancer called Chondrosarcoma during his imprisonment. However, Mr. Sadeghi’s deprivation from continuing treatment has caused many physical problems, especially in the surgical area.
Arash Sadeghi’s physicians believed that he should have been hospitalized once every four months after surgery, but he had been prevented from undergoing surgery for more than a year.
According to doctors’ prescriptions until July, he had to have a full scan of his body and confirmation of non-proliferation in the affected area, but this has not yet happened.
Relatives of Arash Sadeghi have described the delays in sending this political prisoner to the hospital as deliberate and believe that this has put his health at risk.
Prohibition of sending Mr. Sadeghi under various pretexts has continued so far, including last month, when Amin Vaziri, a prosecutor for political prisoners supervising detention on the pretext of not wearing prison clothes and refusing to accept bracelets, was prevented.
It should be noted that Arash Sadeghi’s wife, Golrokh Ebrahimi-Iraie, was herself serving a prison sentence in November 2016, was released from Evin Prison on April 8, 2017. She had been sentenced to three any groups or political parties on another case has also recently been upheld by the appeals court. If Article 1 (Sentencing) is applied, this period will be reduced to 2 years and 1 month.
Source » thefreeiranian