Political Prisoner Transferred To Hospital Due To Deteriorating Health

Khaled Pirzadeh, a former bodybuilding champion and political prisoner, has been transferred from Evin Prison to a hospital in Tehran.

According to reports from the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), citing informed sources, Pirzadeh has been admitted to the intensive care unit due to a heart condition, specifically arrhythmia.

Sources close to Pirzadeh's family revealed that the political prisoner has been experiencing various health issues since last month, necessitating urgent angioplasty.

Pirzadeh gained attention when he was released from Ahvaz Prison on February 11, 2023, after enduring months of hunger strikes and grappling with critical physical conditions.

However, his freedom was short-lived as he was rearrested by security forces in Ahvaz approximately seven months later, in September. Subsequently, on October 15, 2023, he was transferred from Ward 209 of Evin Prison, operated by the Ministry of Intelligence, to Ward 6 of the same facility.

The former bodybuilding champion was handed a sentence of five years and eight months in prison on charges of "gathering and collusion and propaganda against the system."

According to relatives, Pirzadeh's health struggles render him unable to endure imprisonment due to his deteriorating physical condition.

His case brings to light broader concerns about the treatment of political prisoners in Iran, with numerous reports highlighting the lack of timely medical attention and disregard for their right to proper treatment by prison authorities.

Over the years, several political prisoners, including civil activist Sasan Niknafs, poet and filmmaker Baktash Abtin, and protesting citizen Javad Rouhi, lost their lives in prison. Despite mounting evidence implicating pressure, torture, and insufficient medical services in these deaths, the Islamic Republic has consistently shirked responsibility for their deaths.