After Transfer to Hospital, Ehsan Mazandarani's Heart Activity Has Been Revived

The brother of Ehsan Mazandarani's wife reported that this imprisoned journalist was transferred to Sina Hospital in Tehran on Tuesday, June 21, after experiencing a "cardiac arrest," and after being admitted to the "intensive care unit" of the hospital, his heart activity has been "revived." Sam Hosseini, in an interview with Radio Farda, said that Ehsan Mazandarani was transferred to the hospital after losing consciousness at Evin prison's medical facility. According to reports, Mr. Mazandarani has been on a hunger strike since May 17. Mr. Hosseini stated that he had previously written a letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, regarding "tortures" during his detention, and that the interrogators of the Revolutionary Guards had pressured him to deny this letter, but he "refused to comply." The brother of Ehsan Mazandarani's wife also mentioned that the demands of this imprisoned journalist for ending his hunger strike include a "fair" review of his case, the formation of a "fact-finding committee in Parliament," and the "return of the case to the main authority, which is the Ministry of Intelligence." Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabai, Ehsan Mazandarani's lawyer, stated on Sunday, March 13, 2016, that his client's case dates back to 2012 and that "the same case has now been reopened by a new judicial authority, and... additional charges have been added with fabricated and ambiguous documents." According to Mr. Alizadeh Tabatabai, the Ministry of Intelligence withdrew from further investigation of Mr. Mazandarani's case a month after his arrest in 2012 and a year later confirmed his qualifications for the position of editor-in-chief of the Farhikhtegan newspaper. In the second week of February 2013, about 20 journalists, including Ehsan Mazandarani, were arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence and released after about a month. Before his "cardiac arrest," Ehsan Mazandarani had written in a letter from prison that his arrest and sentence were the "cost" of publishing videos known as the farewell of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani with his son Mehdi Hashemi and the reading of Mehdi Hashemi's statement in front of Evin prison. Sadegh Amoli Larijani, the head of Iran's judiciary, had reacted to the video of Mehdi Hashemi's farewell with his father by saying that the space should not be used by anyone who has been in charge at any time to "create farewell videos to undermine the judiciary." Ehsan Mazandarani, along with several other journalists, has been in detention since November of last year and was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Revolutionary Court in May of this year. Afrin Chitsaz, another journalist who was arrested in November, received a ten-year prison sentence, while the court sentenced Ehsan Safarzadeh, who has also been in detention since then, to five years in prison. The trial of Eisa Saharkhiz, another journalist who was arrested with these three, has not yet been held. Concurrently with reports about Ehsan Mazandarani's "cardiac arrest," the website Khabar Online reported that Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand, a journalist and founder of the Kurdistan Human Rights Defense Organization, who had been on a four-day leave after ending a 34-day hunger strike, returned to prison due to the non-renewal of his leave. According to this report, judicial officials had promised Mr. Kabudvand an extension of his medical leave but "failed to fulfill their promise regarding the extension of the leave and opposed the continuation of treatment and hospitalization of Kabudvand in Tehran Heart Hospital." The website also reported that Parinaz Baghan Hasani, Mr. Kabudvand's wife, had also been "summoned and interrogated" by the Ministry of Intelligence in recent days. Mr. Kabudvand had been on a hunger strike since May 8 in protest against what he called "the formation of a new judicial case with fabricated charges" and "the non-application of the aggregation of crimes regarding his sentences." Previously, Parinaz Baghan Hasani had reported that he had been summoned to the prosecutor's office on charges such as sending messages of "congratulations for the liberation of Kobani" and "requesting peace between Turkey and the Kurds" and that "a case is to be formed against him." She also stated that the aggregation of crimes regarding Mr. Kabudvand's charges had "not been applied contrary to the law." The consideration of the aggregation of crimes usually leads to a reduction in the number of prisoners. Mr. Kabudvand ended his hunger strike temporarily on Friday, June 10, following the issuance of his acquittal from the new charges and subsequently went on leave. Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand, the Secretary-General of the Kurdistan Human Rights Defense Organization and the editor-in-chief of the suspended newspaper Payam-e Mardom, has been sentenced to ten years for "acting against national security" through the formation and administration of the Kurdistan Human Rights Organization and activities within it, and to one year in prison for "propaganda against the regime." John Kirby, the spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, and several international human rights organizations had previously called for Mr. Kabudvand's release. 76 Iranian journalists also expressed "great concern" on Sunday, June 12, about the "harassment of journalists in Iran," and including the "serious consequences" of the hunger strikes of Ehsan Mazandarani and Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand, calling for their "immediate release" and condemning the "violation of their legal rights" by any authority or institution.