Iran Deliberately Denying Medical Care For Jailed Activist, Amnesty Says

International human rights organization Amnesty International says imprisoned Iranian activist Abbas Vahedian Shahroudi health has seriously deteriorated in solitary confinement.

In a statement on Friday, the UK-based rights group said that Iran’s Intelligence Ministry and prosecutors in Mashhad – in the northeastern province of Khorasan-e Razavi – are endangering the life and safety of the “tortured activist”. Vahedian was one of the signatories of a letter calling for the resignation of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Amnesty said the authorities are “deliberately denying him adequate medical care and keeping him in prolonged solitary confinement”.

“The authorities are concealing the circumstances leading to two episodes of emergency hospitalization between 24 and 28 February 2022 and denying him visits with his family and lawyer”, the statement added.

Vahedian and his daughter were assaulted and beaten when security forces barged into his home to arrest him.

In 2019, Vahedian and 13 other political activists wrote a letter to Khamenei, calling for his resignation and changing the constitution, saying “the current regime is irredeemable and insists on its mistakes and adds to its tyranny”.

Iranian security has been denying medical care to prominent political prisoners in recent months. They have reportedly denied activist Sepideh Gholian (Qolian) sick leave for her severe Covid-19 symptoms. One month earlier, Baktash Abtin, another activist, died of Covid complications after being denied timely treatment in Tehran’s Evin prison.