Local Officials' Justifications for the Death of Javad Rouhi: He Had an Addiction | Political and Legal Activists: This is Murder

One day after the confirmation of the death of Javad Rouhi, a political prisoner in the medical facility of Nowshahr prison, while political and legal activists explicitly refer to his death as murder and demand investigations into the details of his death, local officials in Nowshahr, Mazandaran, are attempting to justify his death by citing 'addiction' and his medical history. The public relations office of Nowshahr prison claimed in a statement sent to Iranian state news agencies that Javad Rouhi had a 'history of methadone use prescribed by a doctor due to addiction, and he had been trying to quit methadone and reduce his consumption in recent months.' The statement mentioned that he had a 'history of seizures' in the years 2016, 2017, and 2020 and had even 'attempted suicide.' Javad Rouhi was in 'temporary detention' at Nowshahr prison since September 21, 2022, in connection with the protests in the second half of 2022 in Mazandaran. He had been sentenced to death three times, but this sentence was later overturned by the Supreme Court. However, in mid-August, his lawyer stated that this case was 'lost in a strange administrative loop.' While the medical staff and public relations of Nowshahr prison are attempting to justify his death, Mohsen Barahani, a lawyer critical of the Iranian government, questioned why 'Javad Rouhi was in prison' given his medical history. On Thursday, September 1, the news of Javad Rouhi's death in Nowshahr prison sparked a wave of anger and disgust among Iranians, which was reflected on social media, where it was stated that 'he was killed in Nowshahr prison contrary to the claims of the Islamic Republic officials.' Hamidreza Taghipour, a human rights activist and director of the Human Rights website in Iran, who resides in Central Europe, told Voice of America that Javad Rouhi was killed due to physical and psychological torture in prison. Some users on social media have exposed the identities of local officials in Nowshahr, accusing them of 'murdering' Javad Rouhi. Hossein Ahmadi-Niaz, a lawyer, told Voice of America that Javad Rouhi was killed in a deliberate and premeditated government murder. This lawyer and international attorney added: 'Execution is a judicial murder, but preventing treatment while torturing and obstructing freedom is an extrajudicial murder that has been systematically carried out in the Islamic Republic over the past 44 years without any cost to the perpetrators and instigators of these murders, and it continues to this day.' Hassan Nayeb Hashem, a doctor and human rights activist, also told Voice of America that an independent committee should be formed for each case of death in prison with the approval of the family and lawyer. Additionally, Roya Boroumand, executive director of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation, stated regarding Javad Rouhi's death in Nowshahr prison that 'international organizations and global bodies, since they have no access to prisons and cases inside Iran, ultimately resort to verbal condemnation or meetings with relevant officials in the Islamic Republic or at most sanctioning a few regime agents, and since these actions have no practical cost for the Islamic Republic, they will never stop.'