Tag: medical neglect

Death of Sasan Niknafs Confirmed by General Directorate of Prisons in Tehran Province

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Prisoners
Behnam Mahjubi, Firoozabadi, Firoozabadi Hospital, Greater Tehran Penitentiary, Greater Tehran Prison, medical neglect, medical negligence, Medical treatment, Niknafs, Sasan Niknafs, Tehran General Directorate of Prisons, Tehran prison conditions

On Monday, June 7, the General Directorate of Prisons of Tehran Province finally confirmed the death of political prisoner Sasan Niknafs in Greater Tehran Prison.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, the Tehran Prisons Organization claims that the place of death was Firoozabadi Hospital in Tehran. However, an informed source stated that in reality, Niknafs’ body was taken to a hospital outside the prison after his death.

The political prisoner was suffering from myriad mental and physical health problems, such as diabetes, fatty liver, gastritis, high blood pressure, and severe depression. The Prisons Organization confirmed in its June 7 report that Niknafs had once attempted suicide.

By most definitions, Niknafs was unfit to serve time in prison, but his mother’s efforts to obtain a certificate of intolerance were unsuccessful until after his death. Moreover, despite the clear urgency of his condition, Prison officials significantly delayed sending Niknafs to a properly-equipped hospital outside the prison.

In the last two days, several political prisoners in the Greater Tehran Prison have been interrogated regarding Niknafs’ drug use. A statement issued by the Tehran General Directorate of Prisons says that drug use was the cause of Niknafs’ deteriorating condition, without mentioning the forensic report.

According to an informed source, prison officials are attempting to make the case that self-medicating was the cause of Niknafs’ death as they did for Behnam Mahjubi, a prisoner who died earlier this year under similarly mysterious conditions after being denied proper medical treatment.

In February, prison authorities declared that Sufi dervish activist Behnam Mahjubi died after what they say was poisoning due to self-medicating and medication consumption, despite evidence from forensic reports to the contrary. According to the forensic medical order, Niknafs needed to be under medical monitoring. Instead, the extent of his treatment was a prescription of 2 Largactil tablets (chlorpromazine hydrochloride) and 1 Clonazepam, daily, by the prison health center.

Reckless behavior among Greater Tehran Prison officials, especially regarding political prisoners, has long been a burden on the mental and physical health and safety of inmates. The news of Sasan Niknafs’ death due to the negligence of prison officials has once again raised concerns about other political prisoners being held in Greater Tehran Penitentiary.

 

 

UN Experts Express Concern Over the Health Condition of Mohammad Nourizad in Evin Prison

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Freedom of Expression, Prisoners
Evin Prison, medical neglect, medical negligence, Mohammad Nourizad, Nourizad, Political Prisoner, United Nations

On Tuesday, May 4th, UN experts issued a statement expressing concern over the health condition of civil activist Mohammad Nourizad and calling for his immediate release from Evin Prison. Javid Rehman, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, Niels Melzer, Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and several other UN experts stated that Mr. Nourizad has been in critical condition for some time, and continued deprivation of treatment could prove fatal.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, UN experts have stated that Mr. Nourizad’s case is “emblematic of the situation many Iranian political activists face in detention” , citing the transfer of Mr. Nourizad to Loghman Hospital in Tehran, on April 14, 2021, after fainting. The statement reveals that once revived, Mr. Nourizad “found someone injecting him with an unknown substance, that he did not consent to or was informed of”. Nourizad was denied information about the substance or its purpose from officials, despite his explicit requests.

66-year-old Nourizad is an Iranian director, screenwriter, journalist, and activist. Nourizad became an outspoken critic of the Islamic Republic a decade ago, and has since been arrested and imprisoned several times for his civic work and visits to families of political prisoners.

In mid-August 2019, 14 activists, including Nourizad, signed a letter calling for the resignation of Ayatollah Khamenei. Several signatories were arrested, and others were pressured after the letter went public. Mr. Nourizad was arrested by security forces on August 11, 2019, along with several union and civil activists and sent to Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad (he was later transferred to Evin Prison, where he currently resides).

In the first part of his case, Mr. Nourizad was charged by Branch 4 of the Revolutionary Court of Mashhad, presided by Judge Mansouri, on charges such as “insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic, insulting sacred values, insulting the leadership, disturbing public opinion, cooperating with foreign media, and participating in illegal gatherings”, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison, 3 years of exile to Izeh, and a 3-year ban from leaving the country. Branch 35 of the Appeals Court in Razavi Khorasan Province revised the verdict to 15 years in prison, 2 years of exile to Izeh, and a 2-year ban on leaving the country.

In August 2020, in the second part of his case, he was sentenced by Branch 2 of the Mashhad Criminal Court to 8 months imprisonment, 74 lashes, and exile to Tabas on the charge of “disturbing public order” for appearing in front of the building where Kamal Jafari Yazdi was appearing; and sentenced to another 74 lashes on a charge of “spreading lies”. This verdict was confirmed by the Court of Appeal of Khorasan Razavi Province.

In May of this year, Mr. Nourizad announced that he has been sentenced to another year in prison on a charge of defending the rights of Baha’i citizens living in Ivanki, prompting this public concern. Mohammad Nourizad suffers from myriad underlying conditions, including asthma, heart problems, and high blood pressure. The forensic medicine organization previously ordered his release for medical reasons. According to these UN experts, considering Nourizad’s critical health condition and overwhelming consensus from professionals,  he cannot stay in prison.

A Prisoner Was Found Dead in a Prison in Mashhad

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Prisoners
Asghar Samani, medical neglect, Vakilabad prison

On September 29, 2019, a prisoner who was diagnosed with Tuberculosis (TB) died in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad due to the lack of medical treatment and negligence of the prison authorities.

Asghar Samani was serving time for murder in the ward five of Vakilabad Prison. He was found dead in prison’s restroom at 6 am.  According to an informed source, Asghar Samani was diagnosed with TB and prison’s authorities were negligent toward his condition. The source also added that there are at least 600 prisoners in this ward and they were frequently treated with pain killers and psychedelic drugs.

HRANA published a report in February 2019 about the prevalence of TB, lice and bed bugs in Ghezel Hesar Prison after the arrival of new prisoners. They were mostly drug addicts and were transferred to this prison’s general wards without spending some time in the quarantine ward. The prisoners and their families are concerned about the epidemic of contiguous diseases such as TB among the prisoners.

Open Letter: Golrokh Iraee Champions the Healthcare Rights of her Ailing Husband

Posted on by Sara
Prisoners
Arash Sadeghi, arash sadeghi diagnosed with cancer, Evin Prison, Gohardasht, Golrokh Irayee, medical neglect, open letter, Prisoner abuse, Rajai Shahr Prison, Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj, Rajai Shahr Prison of Karaj, Women's Ward of Evin Prison

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA)- Civil rights activist and Evin prisoner of conscience Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee has written an open letter to protest the IRGC’s continued medical blockade on her husband, Arash Sadeghi, who has been effectively deprived of chemotherapy since undergoing surgery for chondrosarcoma on September 12th.

The full text of Iraee’s letter, translated into English by HRANA, is below:

Authorities have offered no explanation for blocking visits and phone calls between me and my husband Arash Sadeghi. Since December 2017, the only contact we’ve had is a two-hour visit. And that was five months ago.

I have heard many reports that Arash is faltering in his battle with cancer. Only two days after undergoing surgery for his condition, he was harried out of the hospital against medical advice by the Sarallah IRGC [based in Tehran and responsible for securing the capital city]. Mal-equipped to counter the progression of Arash’s disease, the Rajai Shahr Prison clinic abdicated responsibility for his post-surgery care. Despite an infection to his surgery site, authorities have denied his request to be transferred to a hospital.

Specialists have stressed that the next stages of Arash’s treatment will require chemotherapy, and the state physicians in Gohardasht (Rajai Shahr) prison have asserted their inability to administer or monitor this treatment. No action has been taken to hospitalize him so that his chemo can begin.

Arash has been detained multiple times. He lost his mother to a raid by regime agents. He was denied the right to continue his studies and has been stripped of his civil rights. Finally, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison without any proof or evidence [of a crime]. Now he faces the rancor and spite of the Sarallah IRGC.

Arash is being denied medical care, one of the most basic rights promised to prisoners in the laws of the Islamic Republic.

Throughout our prison terms, we never asked to be spared their spite, but this time Arash’s life is at stake. My worst fear has come true, and we are well past the tipping point; I don’t know to what extent Arash’s health can be restored.

In the present circumstances, laws that profess to protect prisoners are unveiled as masks of humanity, a farce for the international stage. Despotism can no longer contain the true motive of these laws, which rulers make no effort whatsoever to enforce.

We cannot expect humanity from those who have already proven devoid of it. What matters is the fleeting sands of time, the dissipating moment, the joy that seems a more distant dream each day.

I am certain that with each display of callousness towards his health, Arash will be all the more emboldened. He will do as he has done with every other injustice, coercion, and anguish: he will overcome.

I thank every friend and organization standing shoulder to shoulder with us, and am grateful for the dear comrades who have stood by Arash in Gohardasht. May conscience break dawn on the dark night of ignorance.

Golrokh Iraee
Evin Prison
November 12, 2018

____________________________________________________________________________________

Golrokh Iraee was arrested along with her husband on September 6, 2014. First held at an IRGC safe house for two days, she then spent 20 days in the solitary cells of Evin’s Section 2A, under IRGC jurisdiction, before being released on a bail of 800 million rials [approximately $19,000 USD].

On October 24, 2016, the IRGC arrested Iraee again without a warrant. She was sentenced to six years in prison for blasphemy and “gathering and collusion against the regime.” She was later granted amnesty per Article 134 of Islamic Penal Code, which reduced her prison term to 2.5 years.

Iraee’s husband Arash Sadeghi is serving a 19-year sentence in Karaj’s Rajai Shahr Prison.

Journalist’s Death Attributed to Travel and Healthcare Restrictions

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Cultural, Freedom of Expression
Hamid Houshangi, iranian journalists, medical neglect, persecuted journalists

Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) – Hamid Houshangi, former journalist and director at the state-run news agency, IRNA, passed away Thursday, November 8th of cancer. He was 70.

At the time of his death, Houshangi was facing a two-year prison sentence. In a note published September 2nd of this year, Houshangi drew attention to a writ in which he was summoned to serve the sentence despite his diagnosis.

The cancer diagnosis came at about the same time as his prison sentence — ruled by Judge Moghiseh on October 2, 2016 — for charges of “propaganda against the regime” and “gathering and colluding against national security.” The sentence was upheld a few months later by Judge Zargar of Appeals Court Branch 36.

Referred throughout his cancer treatment to resources that could only be obtained abroad, Houshangi never broke free of a two-year stalemate with judicial authorities who refused to let him seek care outside Iran.

Houshangi started his journalism career with Iranian national radio and television in 1973.

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Evin Prison Women’s Ward Denies Medical Care to Baha’i Negin Ghadamian

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Prisoners, Women
Baha'i, baha'i arrests iran, baha'i in iran, Evin Prison, medical neglect, negin ghadamian, Negin Ghademian, Prisoner abuse, Women's Ward of Evin Prison

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA)- Despite the blessing of Prosecution Assistant Rostami, Baha’i prisoner Negin Ghadamian is being denied extra-prison dental care for a severe gum infection, jaw pain, and toothache.

Prison authorities, including clinic head Agha Khani, have opposed Ghadamian’s medical transfer, insisting her treatment take place inside the prison.

The swelling population of the Women’s Ward places prisoners in increased medical precarity, as authorities — apparently arbitrarily — have barred external medical transfers almost entirely. An informed source told HRANA that prison dentistry relies on limited equipment, delivers mediocre care, and sticks patients with steep fees.

HRANA published a report on September 30th detailing the living conditions in the Women’s Ward at Evin. “Evin Prison dentistry operates in less-than-sterile conditions and exposes patients to remarkably high risk for infections,” the report reads. “Cavity fillings are expensive there, putting patients out as much as 20 million rials (approximately $114 USD) or preventing them, for lack of means, from getting the fillings they need.”

Security agents first arrested Ghadamian on May 24, 2011, after which she went free on 50 million tomans [approximately $12,000 USD] bail. In March 2012, she was sentenced in absentia by Judge Moghiseh on charges of “acting against national security through membership in the illegal Baha’i organization.” She was arrested at the airport on December 17, 2017, to serve her sentence.

Urmia Authorities Turn Deaf Ear to Prisoner Fighting Infection

Posted on by Sara
Prisoners
medical neglect, Prisoner abuse, Sadroldin Teymourpour, Urmia prison

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA)- “What do you need an ear for?”, the Urmia Prison director said to Sadroldin Teymourpour, a prisoner complaining of an ear infection secondary to an assault by security agents.

Needless to say, Teymourpour’s request to be transferred to a hospital was not taken seriously.

Initially sentenced to death, Teymourpour is currently serving a commuted sentence of 30 years plus a 200-million toman [approximately $13,500 USD] fine.

Forcing ailing prisoners to make do with the short-staffed, underequipped prison clinic has led to multiple prisoner deaths. HRANA reported on a number of these fatal neglect cases in September 2018.

Zahedan Central Prison: 6 Untimely Deaths in 7 Months

Posted on by Sara
Prisoners
Abdolnabi Saresi, Central prison of Zahedan, Gholam Nab Reygi, Gholamreza Goul, medical neglect, Nasir Zoraghi, Prisoner abuse, Ramin Dokaleh, Zahedan Central Prison, Zahedan Prison

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – A 50-year-old man died within a day of his arrival to Zahedan Central Prison on October 27th due to untreated gastrointestinal issues.

He was reportedly suffering from severe diarrhea when he was transferred from quarantine to Ward 6. He received no medical care and died later that night.

HRANA is in the process of confirming the identity of this prisoner, the sixth in the past seven months to die in the custody of authorities at Zahedan Central Prison.

Despite a dearth of medical staff, supplies, and equipment, Zahedan Central has been reluctant to transfer prisoners to outside hospitals, even when that transfer is a matter of life or death.

[Counting from March 2018, the Iranian New Year], this deceased prisoner was preceded in death by the following five Zahedan inmates:

· Abdolnabi Saresi, died September 28th of an untreated illness
· Gholamreza Goul of Ward 6, died September 15
· Ramin Dokaleh of Ward 1, died May 31st
· Gholam Nab Reigi of Ward 5, died May 29th
· Nasir Zoraghi of Ward 8, died in May of untreated cardiac disease

Zahedan is the capital of the Southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan and home to the Baloch ethnic minority.

Evin Prosecutor Gives Silent Treatment to Prisoner With Multiple Illnesses

Posted on by Sara
Prisoners
Alireza Golipoor, Evin Prison, medical neglect, Prisoner abuse

Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) – The condition of Evin prisoner Alireza Golipour has significantly declined over the course of his prison sentence, his lawyer Azita Gharebeygloo told HRANA.

Statements from the prison’s medical team — that effective treatment will not be viable inside the prison — were confirmed by the Medical Commission’s opinion that an extra-prison medical transfer is in order, Gharebeygloo said.

Less clear, however, is whether or not this urgency will resonate with the judiciary.

“The commission’s report was announced to the prosecutors, but they have yet to give us any response,” she said.

In an interview with HRANA this past March — when Golipour was suffering from epilepsy, heart disease, and a lymph node infection, all exacerbated by his hunger strike — his attorney was already pressing for him to receive specialized care.

On March 2nd, the head of Evin’s prison clinic assessed Golipour to be in critical condition after he suffered a mild heart attack and consented to a medical transfer on the condition that it be cleared by the prison’s supervisory prosecutor. The prosecutor has yet to consent.

A group of Evin prisoners later addressed a letter to prison authorities imploring them to arrange for Golipoor’s treatment.

Zahedan’s Political Prisoners Suffer Cold, Hunger, Harassment

Posted on by Sara
Prisoners
iran political prisoners, medical neglect, Prisoner abuse, Zahedan Prison

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA)- The political prisoners in Zahedan prison continue to endure mistreatment at the hands of personnel, the harassment of their families by authorities, malnutrition, medical negligence, arbitrary restriction on furlough, and the temperature extremes of an overcrowded prison without climate control.

Constructions and repairs on two wards have dragged on since last year and exacerbated overpopulation concerns at the prison, where many inmates spend nights on their floor.

A close source said that visiting-room personnel and the supervising judge’s office are not above disparaging prisoners’ visiting kin, and cited the judge’s secretary as having particularly hostile conduct toward guests. The visiting-room personnel reportedly condone a guest-inspection protocol that is forceful and intrusive enough to have dissuaded a number of family members from returning.

Dejected at the mistreatment of their family members, some prisoners suffer from mood disorders, declaring hunger strike or attempting suicide.

“Some of the prison staff, like Haji Keykhah, get promoted every year despite mistreatment of prisoners and histories of sexual misconduct,” one Zahedan prisoner, recently released after 20 years, told HRANA. “Khalili [former personnel] and Mohsen Khajeh are two authorities who instigate fights between prisoners and staff. Each has their own group of cronies who smuggle narcotics into the prison.”

Many inmates in the political ward are denied furlough despite being lawfully eligible to take it. Inspector Ghouchi, a prison quartermaster, reportedly uses the promise of furlough to extort desperate prisoners.

As winter closes in, a lack of heating equipment has made the life unbearable for prisoners, some of whom went to lengths to purchase their own heating units — only to have them confiscated by prison authorities, who repurposed them for their own use in administrative offices.

Any of Zahedan’s 3,000 inmates desiring medical care must get in line to see a generalist for the 20 minutes they swing by the prison each day. A psychiatrist visits twice monthly for an equally narrow time frame, while dentists or ophthalmologists aren’t brought in at all.

A recently-released prisoner who worked at the cafeteria and prison shop told HRANA that the cafeteria staffs its kitchen with prisoners paid between 100 and 200 tomans [approximately $6 and $12 USD] per month, “resulting in very poor-quality meals.” The prison shop, stocking only laundry detergent and dishwasher liquid, offers nothing to supplement a hungry prisoner’s diet.

Zahedan is the capital of the southeastern province of Sistan & Baluchistan, which borders Pakistan and is home to Iran’s Baloch minority.