Iran Human Rights Campaign Report on 'Deliberate' Denial of Medical Facilities to Political Prisoners

The Iran Human Rights Campaign reported that between May 30 and August 16 of this year, at least 34 political prisoners in various prisons across Iran have been 'deliberately' deprived of access to adequate medical services. This detailed report, published on Wednesday, August 23, includes the names of all 34 prisoners, along with their place of detention, type of illness, age, and the manner in which they were denied medical services, including access to medication or transfer to medical facilities outside the prison. Among them, Afshin Baymani, Samaneh Norouz Moradi, Marzieh Farsi, Afif Naeimi, Jaber Sakhraoui, Anvar Chalashi, Wesam Mazraeh, Abdolamir Zargani, and Hamzeh Savari are nine political and ideological prisoners whose cases are elaborated upon in the report. The report states: 'The deliberate deprivation of the right to treatment' is carried out with completely 'political' objectives... and these deprivations are, in fact, part of a campaign of repression, intimidation, and terror against civil activists and political opponents. Roya Zakeri, a political prisoner, was transferred to Razi Psychiatric Hospital in Tabriz. According to the report, the judiciary of the Islamic Republic and prison officials 'are trying to silence the voices of political prisoners who protest against numerous death sentences and arbitrary convictions from unjust courts.' Hadi Ghaemi, director of the Iran Human Rights Campaign, stated that 'systematic and deliberate deprivation of political prisoners from medical care can potentially equate to state-sponsored murder.' The executive director of the Iran Human Rights Campaign emphasized that the international community must take a 'decisive, coordinated, and firm' stance against this 'illegal, unethical, and brazen' action by Islamic Republic officials, adding that 'without this decisive and comprehensive international response, the officials of the Islamic Republic will continue their efforts to turn prison sentences into executions in silence.' The Iran Human Rights Campaign has called on governments worldwide, the United Nations, international human rights organizations, and medical associations globally to compel Islamic Republic officials to 'immediately provide conditions and the possibility of complete and adequate care for all sick prisoners, including transfer to medical facilities outside the prison.' According to the campaign's report, these deprivations are extensive and include preventing access to medication or refusing to transfer to medical facilities outside the prison, and the verification of the data provided to this organization shows that these actions are 'systematic' and 'deliberate.' The Iran Human Rights Campaign noted in this report that judicial officials and the Islamic Republic's prison organization have 'deliberately ignored the physical condition, underlying or chronic illnesses reported in the medical files of prisoners' and have kept the families of political prisoners uninformed about changes in conditions or the deterioration of prisoners' health. In recent years, several ideological and political prisoners with underlying health conditions have died due to prison conditions and worsening physical problems while incarcerated. The Islamic Republic has never taken responsibility for the deaths of these individuals and has always claimed that they received appropriate and timely medical care.