HRANA – Reza Joshan, a prisoner in Rajaei Shahr prison in Karaj, has been suffering from acute bronchitis for two weeks but has been denied medical treatment by prison authorities.

Although Mr. Joshan’s condition is deteriorating daily, prison officials refuse to provide him with medical care or transfer him to the prison clinic. In fact, in recent days, the judge overseeing the prison visited Mr. Joshan’s cell and told him that he will receive medical treatment only if he writes a letter recanting his actions.

According to Human Rights and Democracy Activists, Reza Joshan, who is only 25 years-old, was transferred to Ward 6 of Rajaiee Shahr prison in early April from solitary confinement in Rajaiee Shahr’s IRGC Ward, which is controlled by Intelligence Ministry Interrogators.

Reza Joshan was arrested on December 1, 2009, after Intelligence Ministry agents raided his home, and was transferred to a solitary confinement cell in the IRGC Ward. Intelligence Ministry agents raided the Joshan home again less than a week later on December 7, and arrested Mr. Joshan’s mother, Mrs. Zahra Assadpour Gorji as well.

On February 8, 2009, Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court, presided by judge Asef Hosseini, sentenced Mr. Joshan and Mrs. Assadpour Gorji to one year of exile and imprisonment in Zanjan prison and four years of exile in the village of Ghilar in Zanjan.

Mrs. Assadpour Gorji had only recently been released from prison after serving a 16-month sentence in Gohardasht prison in Karaj for visiting her son at the Ashraf camp in Iraq.

In addition, the family patriarch, Mr. Mohammad Salam Joshan, was also arrested on May 26, 2010, and is currently held in Evin Prison.