A report on the situation of political prisoner, Gholam Hossein Kalbi in his 21st year of imprisonment without a day leave
8-January-2021
Category: Prisoners
Breathing in Confinement, January 8, 2021: Twenty years ago, on January 8, 2001, Gholamhossein Kalbi was arrested in the City of Dezful.
The following report describes the situation of this political prisoner during his 20 years in prison without a day leave.
According to Breathing in Confinement, the news organ of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, the political prisoner Gholam Hossein Kalbi, is serving his twentieth year in Sheiban Prison in Ahvaz. Throughout this period, Mr. Kalbi has been denied even a single day of furlough. He, along with Saeed Masouri, was arrested on January 8, 2001and transferred to the Intelligence Office in Dezful. And after 14 months in solitary confinement, he was transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison.
In 2002, he was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court in Tehran on charge of “membership in the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization.” His sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment. After issuance of the verdict, he was initially transferred to Ward 350 of Evin Prison and then to Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj and afterward to Mahshahr Prison, and eventually to Karun Prison in Ahvaz. In February 2016, after the closure of Karun Prison, he along with other prisoners was transferred to Sheiban Prison in Ahvaz, also called Ahvaz Vocational Training Complex.
Through several letters, he has repeatedly requested to be transferred to Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj, where he was previously being held, but yet to receive any reply from the authorities.
While serving his sentence, Mr. Kalby lost his mother as well as his sister. Nevertheless, was never granted leave. In addition, in 2016, Mr. Kalby’s older brother died of a heart attack on his way to visit him. It needs to be said that Mr. Kalbi’s brother had been struggling to get a visit permit for 5 years. However, on the day that he was finally granted a face to face visit by Khuzestan Provincial Prosecutor’s Office, he died on his way to prison, because of a heart attack. Again, Gholam Hossein Kalbi was denied the right to attend his brother’s funeral and mourning ceremony.
Concurrently with the outbreak of Covid-19, Mr. Gholam Hossein Kalbi is serving his 21st year in Sheiban Prison in Ahvaz and he has so far, been denied a single day of leave.
It is worth mentioning that Sheiban Prison in Ahvaz lacking the basic facilities, is classified as one of the worst prisons in Iran which endangers the lives of prisoners, especially at the time of Covid-19 outbreak.