Torture of political prisoners by depriving them of medical services in Sheiban Ahvaz, Evin, Qezelhessar, and Khoy prisons
Call to condemn the regime’s crimes against prisoners and urgent action for the release of sick political prisoners
Gholamhossein Kalbi, Afshin Baymani, and Ayoub Porkar, with 30, 24, and 16 years of imprisonment respectively, are severely ill and in urgent need of medical treatment.
Political prisoners in Sheiban Ahvaz prison continue to be under severe pressure, including being deprived of medical treatment. The authorities are preventing Gholamhossein Kalbi and Ayoub Porkar, two supporters of the PMOI (People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran), from accessing medical services and being transferred to the hospital.
Gholamhossein is one of the longest-serving political prisoners, who spent 6 years in prison during the 1980s and was re-arrested in 2000, sentenced to life imprisonment, and has spent 24 years in prison without a single day of medical leave. He suffers from heart disease, severe ear infection, severe arthritis, and back pain. Ayoub has been in prison for 16 years and suffers from heart disease, gastrointestinal problems, and severe arthritis, particularly in his knees.
In Qezelhessar prison, Afshin Baymani, who has been imprisoned for 24 years, needs to be treated and undergo surgery in a specialized hospital due to heart failure, but the authorities are preventing it. Afshin, 50 years old, was arrested in September 2000 for helping his brother, Mehdi Baymani, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Since July 2017, due to the pressures of imprisonment, he developed heart problems. On February 28, 2024, during an attack by prison guards, he suffered a heart attack as a result of a blow to his chest. On July 29, 2024, he lost consciousness, hit his head against the wall, and suffered a severe fracture and bleeding.
In Qezelhessar prison, the health of imprisoned artist Saman Yasin is also in danger. He has been held in limbo in prison for two years and has been hospitalized twice in the Razi Psychiatric Hospital. He needs medical treatment outside the prison.
In the women’s ward of Evin, Fatemeh Ziaei, a supporter of the PMOI who suffers from advanced multiple sclerosis (MS), requires urgent care. Doctors have emphasized that she must be continuously treated and monitored. She was arrested in 2022 and sentenced to 6 years and 6 months in prison.
In Khoy prison, Ebrahim Khalil Sediqi Hamedani, a supporter of the PMOI, suffers from severe diabetes. Due to the lack of essential medical and dietary facilities, prison doctors have determined that one of his toes needs to be amputated. In the summer of 2023, another toe was amputated due to the severity of his diabetes.
The Iranian Resistance, emphasizing that the mullahs’ regime is directly responsible for the lives and health of all prisoners, calls on the High Commissioner, the Human Rights Council, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, and all human rights organizations, to condemn the criminal behavior of the mullahs’ regime against prisoners and to take immediate action for the release of sick political prisoners, including Afshin Baymani, Saman Yasin, Gholamhossein Kalbi, Ayoub Porkar, Fatemeh Ziaei, and Ebrahim Sediqi.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
September 1, 2024
