Catching Coronavirus infection and being transferred to Rajai Shahr prison; Behnam Moosivand’s concerning situation in prison
1-September-2020
Category: Prisoners
Shortly after being admitted to Evin Prison Medical Centre with the diagnosis of Covid-19, Behnam Moosivand, a political prisoner in Ward 8 of Evin Prison, was transferred to Rajai Shahr Prison.
According to Breathing in Confinement, the news organ of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, Behnam Moosivand, having symptoms of the Corona-virus infection, was transferred to Evin Prison Medical Center on Saturday, August 29, 2020. However, after only tow days, on August 31, the guards in Evin prison, collected all of his belongings from ward 8 and took them with themselves. The transfer has raised concerns about his health condition.
As per the report of Breathing in Confinement, Behnam Moosivand, despite having been suffering from illness and while requiring medical attention, was transferred from Evin Prison to Rajai Shahr Prison. He is currently being kept in solitary confinement without receiving any medical care.
In recent weeks, this is the second prisoner who after being diagnosed with Corona-virus infection, is being transferred to Rajai Shahr Prison instead of a hospital to receive medical care. Earlier, on August 16, 2020, Jafar Azimzadeh also having the symptoms of Corona-virsus infection, and under the pretext of being transferred to a hospital, was taken to Rajai Shahr Prison.
Transferring the sick prisoners to Rajai Shahr Prison, in addition to endangering their own life, puts the other political prisoners in Rajai Shahr prison at risk of catching the disease and causes the virus to spread in this prison even more than before.
Following the Corona-virus outbreak, officials of the Islamic Republic claimed that “Iran should be recognized as the initiator of the protection of prisoners’ rights in the world.” While, Amnesty International, publishing the correspondence of the Prisons Organization, revealed the extreme shortage of protective equipment as well as essential medical devices during the Corona-virus outbreak in the prisons in Iran.
On Monday morning, August 31, two days after Behnam Moosivand, a civil activist had been transferred to the prison’s medical canter with the symptoms of Covid-19, the Evin Prison agents took his belongings out of ward 8. For Mr. Moosivand’s family members, what the agents did, simultaneously with being unaware of his health condition, as he had stopped calling them, has considerably raised their concern.
According to HRANA, the Human Rights Activists News Agency, On Monday morning, August 31, the guards of Evin Prison went toward 8 and took all of the belongings of Behnam Mosivand, a civil activist who had symptoms of Corona-virus infection, had been transferred to Evin Prison Medical Centre on Saturday, August 29.
“After the prisoners of Ward 8 sat in the ward’s clinic, protesting against the lack of medical care for Behnam Moosivand, who was suffering from fever, chills and other symptoms of Covid-19, he was transferred to the prison’s medical center on Saturday, August 29,” said an informed source to HRANAR, regarding Mr. Moosivand’s latest condition. “During the past few days, Mr. Moosivand was regularly calling his family members keeping them informed of his condition. However, on the morning of August 31, the prison officials asked Behnam’s cell-mates to collect his belongings and hand them over to the guards. Having the experience of what previously happened to Jafar Azimzadeh, and to prevent the transfer of Mr. Moosivand, his cell-mates refused to do so. Finally, a few hours later, the prison guards went inside the ward, collected his belongings and took them out,” he continued. The source added: “Since then, his family members have been unaware of his condition, and this, in addition to his illness, has caused more concern to Mr. Moosivand’s relatives.”