Concerns About the Health of Eisa Saharkhiz

Eisa Saharkhiz's son, Mehdi Saharkhiz, reported that his father, a jailed journalist, has suffered "significant weight loss" after a 12-day hunger strike. On Thursday, January 7, he announced in an interview with the Iran Human Rights Campaign website that his father has been on hunger strike since Saturday, January 25, in protest against the "illegal sentence of six months of additional imprisonment" and the "repeated violations of laws by security officials and the failure to respect prisoners' rights." He reported that Mr. Saharkhiz was transferred to Tehran's Heart Center Hospital due to illness and is only being given "IV fluids and drinks." According to this report, this imprisoned journalist was recently sentenced to an additional six months in prison for "spreading falsehoods" against the Supreme Leader in an initial court ruling, and this sentence is currently under review in the appeals court. Meanwhile, Mehdi Saharkhiz, without detailing the published content, quoted his father as saying that this content was "merely a reformist criticism and was in no way spreading falsehoods." He stated that another reason for his father's hunger strike was the "repeated violations of laws by security officials and the failure to respect prisoners' rights." In recent years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has consistently ranked among the top five countries in the world for the number of imprisoned journalists and bloggers. Mehdi Saharkhiz emphasized that his father has been denied leave in violation of the law, and the Tehran prosecutor has opposed the Medical Commission's proposal to grant him six months of "treatment outside of prison and in a hospital." The new prison sentence for Mr. Saharkhiz was issued while he had previously been sentenced to 21 months in prison and was supposed to be released in May 2017. Meanwhile, Mohsen Eftekhari, head of the Criminal Courts of Tehran Province, had previously announced that "the first political crime case" has been formed by referring Eisa Saharkhiz's case to the first criminal court of Tehran Province. However, Mr. Eftekhari announced on Sunday, October 18, that this court disagrees with the Government Employees Court regarding the political crime nature of the charges against this imprisoned journalist. This case was formed on charges of "insulting" the head of the judiciary, and no report has been published regarding its final outcome. Mr. Saharkhiz has previously gone on hunger strikes three times, including one on November 11, 2015, after his arrest, which he ended following requests from several figures, including Mohammad Khatami, former President of Iran. Eisa Saharkhiz was arrested in November 2015 along with Afrin Chitsaz, Ehsan Mazandarani, and Saman Safarzadeh. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps accused these journalists of being "members of a Western government infiltration network," but Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, and Ali Motahari, a representative from Tehran, confirmed that the aim of these arrests was "political retribution." Eisa Saharkhiz was also arrested in July 2009 during widespread journalist arrests and was sentenced to three years in prison for "insulting the leadership and propaganda against the regime," from which he was released on October 3, 2013. In recent weeks, several political prisoners, including Ali Shariati, Saeed Shirzad, and Mohammad Ali Nekounam, have gone on hunger strikes, which they eventually ended. Arash Sadeghi, another political prisoner, previously went on hunger strike for over 70 days in protest against the arrest of his wife, Golrokh Ebrahimi, which he ended on January 14 when Ms. Ebrahimi was granted leave. However, Golrokh Ebrahimi was arrested again on Sunday, January 22, along with Saeed Eghbali, one of their friends, and transferred to Evin Prison. In this context, dozens of media activists are concerned about the situation of Saharkhiz and Mazandarani.