Elderly Iranian Australian Dies In Prison After Being Denied Medical Care

Shokrollah Jebeli an 82-year-old Iranian-Australian who was being held in Iran’s Evin prison died after being denied medical care for his multiple illnesses.

His son tweeted on Sunday that Jebeli has passed away. The family of the 82-year-old dual citizen and right groups had repeatedly expressed concerns about his health.

On March 14, Amnesty International issued a statement urging his immediate release because of his age and poor health, as well as violations of his fair trial rights rendering his detention arbitrary.

Amnesty said Iranian authorities were torturing him “by deliberately denying him adequate specialized medical care and withholding medication for his multiple serious health conditions”.

The statement said he was suffering from enlarged kidney stones, a history of strokes, sciatica in the legs, high blood pressure and an umbilical hernia that required surgery, but prison authorities refused to provide him with the adequate specialized medical care.

According to the statement, Jebeli was facing two separate cases in relation to financial dispute claims. He was sentenced to four years and six months in prison in one case, and the second was ongoing while he was denied legal representation of his choosing and was held in jail for 17 months without trial.

Iranian authorities deny medical care as a means of pressure on detainees. There have been numerous cases of withholding medical treatment for political prisoners. In January, jailed poet Baktash Abtin who suffered from Covid-19 died in custody after being denied timely hospitalization.