Continued Denial of Medical Treatment for Raheleh Rahimipour, Elderly Civil Activist in Evin Prison

Raheleh Rahimipour, a 72-year-old civil activist, one of the mothers seeking justice from the 1980s, and the oldest female prisoner in Evin Prison, continues to be held in poor health despite suffering from multiple illnesses including "brain tumor and minor thalassemia." This is while forensic medicine has previously declared her condition critical and emphasized the urgent need for specialized treatment outside of prison. According to HRANA, the news agency of human rights activists in Iran, Ms. Rahimipour also suffers from various ailments such as "high blood pressure, diabetes, joint pain, and cataracts," and her old age has exacerbated her physical problems. A source close to her family reported that she sometimes becomes so weak and lethargic that her cellmates are concerned about the occurrence of unfortunate events. Despite the forensic confirmation of her inability to endure punishment and warnings about the dangers of the prison's stressful environment for her health, Evin officials have refused to send her to medical facilities or grant her parole. Additionally, it has been reported that one of the reasons for the refusal of Evin prison officials and the Islamic Republic's prison organization to release or even provide serious treatment for this imprisoned mother seeking justice is her participation in protests alongside other female political prisoners. This includes her opposition to the issuance of death sentences for Pakhshan Azizi and Varisheh Moradi, two imprisoned civil activists, as well as the recent wave of death sentences and systematic deprivation of the right to life from dissenters and all humans. According to informed sources to HRANA, the prosecutor's office has explicitly stated that her participation in protests has led to her deprivation of legal proceedings. This is while Ms. Rahimipour's requests have only included her legal rights, such as being sent to medical facilities and implementing forensic recommendations. Also, in mid-September, the prosecutor's office opposed sending her case to the medical commission due to her presence in a sit-in inside the prison. Raheleh Rahimipour's brother, Hossein Rahimipour, was executed in 1984, and her niece Golrou, who was born in prison, disappeared and was never found. HRANA previously reported that "this civil activist was arrested on November 12, 2019, along with Zhila Karamzadeh Makvandi by security forces in Tehran and transferred to the detention center of the IRGC, known as Ward 2-A of Evin Prison. Shortly after, Ms. Rahimipour was temporarily released from prison." According to HRANA, the two were charged by Branch 2 of the Evin Prosecutor's Office under the titles of "assembly and collusion and propaganda against the regime," and the court session to address Ms. Rahimipour's charges was held on June 17, 2020, in Branch 15 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran. Rahimipour was sentenced to 6 years in prison, and in late November of last year, after appearing at the Evin Prosecutor's Office, she was arrested and transferred to Evin Prison to serve her sentence.