Political Prisoner Deprived of Medical Treatment in Rajai Shahr Prison of Karaj

Political Prisoner Deprived of Medical Treatment in Rajai Shahr Prison of Karaj.

Saeed Shirzad, a political prisoner detained in Rajai Shahr prison was emergency transferred to Madani hospital in Karaj on Saturday, December 01 due to severe kidney pain. Doctors advised that there was a cyst in one of his kidneys and his right kidney was abnormally smaller than the left one. However, he was transferred back to the prison on the same day despite the need for hospitalisation and medical treatment.

Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has been informed that this political prisoner has been suffering from physical problems during the past few years due to going on a 39-day and 53-day hunger strike but he is being refused hospital treatment outside the prison by the prison authorities.

This political prisoner who has suffered from kidney pain, backache and severe spasticity in the lower back during the past year was finally transferred to Karaj Madani Hospital on Saturday night due to severe pain in his kidney. The ultrasound result showed that the size of his right kidney has been reduced to 8 centimetres and there is a cyst in his right kidney.

Saeed Shirzad, 29, a children’s rights activist, was arrested in June 2014 at a refinery in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz where he worked. He was detained and interrogated in solitary confinement at ward 209 of Evin Prison in Tehran for more than 2 months due to his activity of defending Working Children as well as association with The family of political prisoners.

He was initially transferred to Ward 8 of Evin Prison and then transferred to Karaj Prison of Rajai Shahr after a short time without any specific reason.

He was sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court on September 12, 2015 for “assembly and collusion against national security”. This verdict was later confirmed by Tehran Court of Appeal. Moreover, his one year suspended imprisonment, issued in 2012 on charges of helping the Ahar earthquake victims, came into enforcement.

This political prisoner also faced new charges when serving his prison term due to protesting against the transfer of political prisoners to the security ward in Rajaishahr prison of Karaj, for which he was sentenced to six months of imprisonment by Branch 1162 of Tehran’s Penal Court 2 in October this year.

It should be noted that not only Saeed Shirzad but also other prisoners including Arash Sadeghi, Hassan Sadeghi, Majid Asadi and Shahram Pourmansour have been deprived of Medical care and hospital treatment.

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