Manouchehr Bakhtiari Suffers Heart Attack While Detained in Hospital

Manouchehr Bakhtiari's sister states that this political prisoner, who was hospitalized due to "blood clotting and undergoing a second surgery," suffered a "heart attack" due to pressure from "security forces" to return him to prison from the hospital. Saba Bakhtiari wrote on social media platform X on Thursday, December 6: "Yesterday, security forces went to the hospital to transfer my brother, who was hospitalized due to blood clotting and undergoing a second surgery, back to prison." According to her, this situation caused Manouchehr Bakhtiari to experience "severe chest pain" and then a "heart attack" due to "nervous attacks," and "doctors prevented his transfer to prison." Saba Bakhtiari emphasized: "We are worried about my brother's life. The Islamic Republic must grant him medical leave." Manouchehr Bakhtiari was arrested on May 29, 2021, after seeking justice for his son, Pouya Bakhtiari, who was shot dead by government forces on November 25, 2019, in Mehrshahr, Karaj. He was subsequently sentenced to three years and six months in prison, two years and six months of exile, and a two-year travel ban. After that, judicial authorities confronted him with multiple fabricated cases during his imprisonment. This political prisoner has been transferred from Karaj Central Prison to Choubin Prison in Qazvin since July 2022 and has repeatedly gone on hunger strikes in protest of his rights violations and deprivation of medical care. After his last hunger strike, prison authorities transferred him to Qazvin Hospital on December 5 in poor health, and Mr. Bakhtiari has been in the hospital since then. Abram Paley, Deputy Special Representative for Iran at the U.S. State Department, on Friday, November 17, coinciding with the anniversary of Pouya Bakhtiari's death, called for the release of Pouya Bakhtiari's parents, stating: "Pouya, like thousands of other protesters during the bloody protests of November 2019, was killed by the Islamic Republic regime. His parents peacefully sought justice for their son. We will remember all the victims of the November protests and those seeking justice." Reports of the violation of prisoners' right to medical care by the Islamic Republic authorities in Iran have been documented multiple times, with several prisoners losing their lives due to negligence in medical treatment. Moein Khazaeli, a lawyer, previously told VOA that the Islamic Republic uses the violation of the right to medical care as a tool of torture against prisoners. In recent days, Iranian officials opposed the medical leave request of Fatemeh Sepahri, a political prisoner opposed to the regime, held in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, telling her that she could only leave prison if she did not interview with the media, but Ms. Sepahri did not accept this condition.