Relatives of Razavi-Faqih Warn of His Life Being in Danger in Prison

A group of relatives of Saeed Razavi-Faqih, a journalist and former student activist, announced in a statement on Wednesday, February 17, that his life is "in danger." According to Mr. Razavi-Faqih's relatives, this issue has been "repeatedly reported" by hospital doctors to the relevant authorities and prison officials. According to the Saham News website, close to Mehdi Karroubi, Mr. Razavi-Faqih's relatives warned in this statement about what they called his "forced transfer" back to prison after heart surgery. Previously, the Jaras website, affiliated with reformists, reported that Saeed Razavi-Faqih had been transferred from prison to the hospital for heart surgery since the early days of February. According to this website, this political prisoner spent all this time in the hospital "with handcuffs and shackles" and was "banned from visits." Meanwhile, the Ensaf News website reported on February 25 that one of the treating doctors had written a "recommendation letter" stating that Mr. Razavi-Faqih "should not be anxious under any circumstances" and that his return to prison in these conditions is inappropriate. This comes as 96 political and civil activists reported last week that this political prisoner had been returned to Rajai Shahr prison despite doctors' opinions that he needed to be hospitalized in the cardiac surgery department. In their statement, Saeed Razavi-Faqih's relatives emphasized: "From the moment Saeed entered prison, the responsibility for his health lies with the judicial authorities and prison guards and the system that has illegally detained him and condemned and imprisoned him without any legal or criminal justification." They warned that if a "crisis" occurs and a "catastrophe" happens to Mr. Razavi-Faqih in these conditions, they reserve the right to complain against all responsible officials up to the highest levels and will resort to all domestic and foreign institutions and organizations. The statement adds: "Any incident concerning Saeed Razavi-Faqih will be considered a deliberate and conscious act against a political prisoner, and God forbid, his death will be tantamount to murder under torture, and those responsible must be held accountable." Saeed Razavi-Faqih was arrested on March 6, 2014, after extensive attacks by hardline media affiliated with the conservative faction of the Islamic Republic, including Fars and Tasnim news agencies, against his speech at a gathering of reformists in Hamadan. According to news reports, Mr. Razavi-Faqih had placed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, alongside other rulers of Iran before the 1979 revolution in his remarks. He stated: "Since the Constitutional Revolution until now, we have seen seven rulers. The seventh ruler is Ayatollah Khamenei. The other six rulers have passed away. Of these six rulers, the first ruler (Mozafar ad-Din Shah) and the sixth ruler (Ayatollah Khomeini) ended their rule and preserved their respect and were buried in Iran. However, the other four rulers never ended their rule. They either went into exile or died in foreign lands." The former member of the Office for Strengthening Unity refers to Mohammad Ali Shah, Ahmad Shah, Reza Shah, and Mohammad Reza Shah, who died in exile abroad. After Mr. Razavi-Faqih's arrest, the Tehran Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office announced that his arrest was not due to his speech in Hamadan but because of a previous case for which this former member of the Central Council of the Office for Strengthening Unity had been sentenced to one year in prison. Saeed Razavi-Faqih is a former member of the Central Committee of the Union of Islamic Associations in Europe and a member of the Central Council of the Office for Strengthening Unity in the early 2000s. He has worked in newspapers such as Bonyan, Sobhe Emruz, Nowruz, and Yas-e-No, and at one point was arrested and imprisoned for protesting the apostasy sentence issued against Hashem Aghajeri.