Hamzeh Savari and Reza Salmandzadeh, Political Prisoners in Qazal Hessar, Deprived of Adequate Medical Services

Human rights sources have reported that two political prisoners held in Qazal Hessar prison in Karaj are being denied appropriate medical care. According to HRANA, the news agency of human rights activists in Iran, Hamzeh Savari and Reza Salmandzadeh, who suffer from multiple illnesses, continue to be deprived of access to medical services. The report states that Hamzeh Savari, sentenced to life imprisonment, has been denied transfer to external medical facilities despite suffering from a Baker's cyst and a recurrence of varicose veins due to a directive from the prosecutor. Reza Salmandzadeh, another political prisoner, is suffering from bladder stones and issues in the testicular area and does not have access to adequate medical care despite his poor physical condition. According to the Iran Human Rights Organization, many reports have been published about the deprivation of political prisoners from adequate treatment, and it appears that security officials use this method to break political prisoners and force them into silence. These two individuals are part of a campaign of political prisoners held in Qazal Hessar prison, who announced that starting from this month, they will hold a group hunger strike every Tuesday in protest against executions, titled "Black Tuesdays." Hamzeh Savari was arrested in September 2005 at the age of 16 and was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Revolutionary Court of Ahvaz on charges of "moharebeh" (waging war against God), "efsad fil-arz" (corruption on earth), and "acting against national security." Reza Salmandzadeh was arrested in May 2022 and sentenced to three years and eight months in prison by the Revolutionary Court of Tehran on charges of "propaganda against the regime" and "membership in illegal groups aimed at undermining national security." According to the Hengaw Human Rights Organization, nine out of 32 prisoners who died in the prisons of the Islamic Republic in 2023 lost their lives due to lack of medical care and delays in transferring to medical facilities. Reza Aghdasi, a jailed labor activist, is also being denied medical care despite his "poor physical condition." Hengaw: At least 32 prisoners have died in the prisons of the Islamic Republic in 2023. Officials at Evin prison prevented the transfer of Davood Razavi to the hospital "on the pretext of not wearing prison clothes." The Union of Workers of the Tehran Bus Company warns: The physical condition of three of our imprisoned members is critical.