Kalameh Website: Nazak Afshar Frequently Loses Consciousness in Evin Prison

The Kalameh website, close to Mir Hossein Mousavi, has reported that the physical condition of Nazak Afshar, a former employee of the cultural section of the French embassy in Tehran, is "critical" and that her "continuous fainting and state of coma" have worried her fellow inmates and family. According to this site, Ms. Afshar "frequently loses consciousness and her body has become bruised due to repeated falls." Previously, Abbas Bakhtiari, director of the Pouya Cultural Center in Paris, had reported in an interview with Radio Farda that Ms. Afshar "fainted in front of the prison gate" during her transfer to Evin Prison. The Kalameh website wrote that Nazak Afshar has been "in limbo" for three weeks, and Abolqasem Salavati, head of Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, is "obstructing her release" despite the bail being set. This site reported on March 18 last year that Mr. Salavati had issued an order for Ms. Afshar's release on a bail of 500 million tomans, but due to "administrative delays," she has not been released and has been transferred to the women's ward of Evin Prison. Nazak Afshar was arrested at Imam Khomeini Airport in Tehran upon her return to Iran. Reports indicate that she traveled to Iran due to her mother's illness, from which doctors have "lost hope." Ms. Afshar's mother intended to travel to France last year, but her passport was confiscated, and she was banned from leaving the country. Nazak Afshar, who holds dual Iranian-French citizenship, was previously arrested in the summer of 2009 and released after a few days through the efforts of the French government. She had appeared for an hour in one of the mass trials of protesters against the results of the June 2009 presidential election, but not only was no indictment read against her, but no ruling was issued afterward either.