Fatemeh Sepehri Returned to Prison 'One Week After Heart Surgery'

One week after Fatemeh Sepehri's open-heart surgery, Islamic Republic judicial authorities transferred her 'without informing her family' from the hospital's intensive care unit to Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad. Fatemeh Sepehri's mother, a political prisoner opposing the Islamic Republic, stated in a video message published on her brother Asghar Sepehri's 'X' account on Sunday, October 8, that 'Fatemeh Sepehri was hospitalized in the intensive care unit for a week and was discharged from the hospital on Saturday, October 7, without the family's knowledge. When the family visited Vakilabad Prison, we were unable to meet with her or speak to her by phone.' According to her mother, Fatemeh Sepehri 'needs special care, a proper diet, and specific medications.' Expressing great concern for her health, her mother said, 'We know how sick she was'; she also described the situation of her other children, Hossein and Mohammad Hossein, who are also detained, stating that 'if any trouble or illness occurs for my children, Mr. Khamenei' and those responsible for 'arming them and putting them against the nation' are accountable, and 'I hope they will soon be tried in a court of justice.' The return of Fatemeh Sepehri to prison without completing her full treatment comes after prison officials 'failed to provide necessary care after her left arm surgery in May, exacerbating her pain.' Asghar Sepehri, in this report while sharing his mother's video message, wrote: 'Currently, we are very worried about Fatemeh Sepehri, and we do not know under what conditions and where she is being held by intelligence forces.' Fatemeh Sepehri's heart surgery took place on October 1, just one day after the arrest of her two brothers, Hossein and Mohammad Hossein Sepehri. According to this report, Hossein Sepehri and Mohammad Hossein Sepehri, who were arrested on Thursday, September 28, in front of Qaem Hospital in Mashhad, contacted their family after 'four days of silence' on Tuesday, October 3, stating that they are in Vakilabad Prison, but they also 'do not have visitation rights, and their phone is heavily monitored.' Asghar Sepehri announced that Khosrow Ali-Kordi has taken on the legal representation for his two imprisoned brothers, but judicial authorities rejected his representation 'because he is not on the list of lawyers approved by the judiciary.' He emphasized: 'If anything happens to Fatemeh Sepehri, Ali Khamenei and the agents of the Islamic Republic will be responsible.' Mohammad Hossein Sepehri, a teacher and political activist opposing the Islamic Republic, stated in a video message from in front of Qaem Hospital, where his sister Fatemeh Sepehri was hospitalized, that this political prisoner 'has undergone three surgeries in the past two years,' with 'the third being arranged by the prison.' This teacher conveyed Fatemeh Sepehri's message from prison as follows: 'My sister had a message and asked me to tell Ali Khamenei that the weed that grew in the pure soil of this country in 1979, for which we gave everything, even blood, I will not rest until I uproot it! Death to Khamenei, curse on Khomeini!' He addressed the leader of the Islamic Republic, saying: 'Ali Khamenei! You who constantly recite elegies about the prisons of Harun, about the prisons of Hajjaj [ibn Yusuf], about your innocent Musa ibn Ja'far, do you know what is happening in your own prisons? Yes, you know!' After these statements, Mohammad Hossein Sepehri was arrested along with his other brother, Hossein Sepehri. Fatemeh Sepehri, who was arrested shortly after the killing of Mahsa Amini and the onset of nationwide protests in Iran, has been in prison for over a year. Before her arrest, she told Voice of America: 'The people do not want the Islamic Republic, and this time they will finish the job.'