Iran: Preventing Sick Political Prisoners from Accessing Specialists and Medical Services—Torturing Them to Death
Urgent Call to Action for the Release of Sick Political Prisoners
In a criminal act, the inhumane clerical regime is deliberately delaying the treatment and transfer of ill political prisoners to hospitals and is refusing to grant them medical leave.
Maryam Akbari Monfared, held in Qarchak Prison in Varamin, suffers from severe spinal cord injury and a herniated disc, facing the threat of paralysis. She requires treatment in a specialized hospital. She has been imprisoned for 15 years without a single day of medical leave. Her only “crime” is seeking justice for her sister and three brothers—members of the PMOI—who were executed by regime henchmen during the 1980s and in the 1988 massacre.
Azar Korvandi, 63, held in Evin Prison, suffers from heart disease requiring angiography, a torn shoulder tendon, and severe bone and joint pain. According to doctors, she urgently needs surgery. Given her history of cancer, she must be under continuous medical supervision. Korvandi is one of the 1980s political prisoners. She has now been sentenced to five years in prison on charges of “collaborating with the PMOI.”
Marzieh Farsi, 56, imprisoned in Evin and a cancer survivor, suffers from persistent dizziness and is being denied medical attention. She was arrested in Tehran in August 2023 and had previously spent three years in prison. Her brother, Hassan Farsi, a PMOI member, was executed during the 1988 massacre.
Ahmadreza Djalali, sentenced to death and imprisoned for the past nine years, recently suffered a heart attack. However, the regime’s henchmen have not transferred him to a hospital. On May 9, his wife wrote on the X platform: “Ahmadreza suffered a heart attack last night. He was transferred to the infirmary of Evin Prison. He has been informed that he cannot be examined by a cardiologist until Sunday.”
Motalleb Ahmadian, an ethnic Kurdish compatriot, has been imprisoned since 2009 without a single day of leave. He has long been suffering from multiple illnesses, including duodenal cancer, spinal canal stenosis, ulcerative colitis, and kidney failure. Due to the regime’s delay in transferring him to a hospital, he is enduring increasing and unbearable pain. Currently serving a 30-year sentence in Ward 4 of Evin Prison, he went on a hunger strike on Wednesday, May 2, 2025, in protest against being denied treatment.
The Iranian Resistance emphasizes that denying sick prisoners access to medical treatment and torturing them to death is a well-known tactic of the Iranian regime. It urges the UN Human Rights Council, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, and all other human rights bodies, as well as the European Union and its member states, to take immediate action for the immediate release of all sick political prisoners.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
10 May 2025