Breathing in Confinement

Being denied of medical care, the Political prisoner Sasan Niknafas  died in the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary

8-June-2021

Category: Uncategorized

June 7, 2021

Newsgroup: Prisoners –

Breathing in Confinement: Being denied of medical care, the political prisoner Sasan Niknafas died after being transferred  to a hospital from the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary.

 

According to Breathing in Confinement, the news organ of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, according to his cellmates, 48 hours after Sasan’s family and his lawyer had been kept unaware of his condition, he was transferred from quarantine ward in Type 2, to prison infirmary, and shortly afterward, his death was confirmed.

 

Sasan was arrested by IRGC intelligence agents in August 2019, and after completion of his interrogations, he was temporarily released on bail awaiting the trial which was held in January 2020 in Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Salavati. He afterward, was sentenced to a total of eight years in prison on charges of “collusion and propaganda against the regime as well as insulting the Supreme Leader.” The sentence was later upheld in Court of Appeals headed by Judge Zargar.

 

Finally in August 2020, Sasan Niknafs was arrested again to serve his sentence, and transferred to the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary.

 

His family had repeatedly warned about his illnesses, including diabetes and epilepsy, as well as his poor mental condition in prison. However, their requests for verification of his inability to endure imprisonment were repeatedly denied by the Department of Forensic Medicine.

 

The Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, condemns using medical care deprivation as a torture tool against the prisoners, and calls on all international entities and human rights organizations to take effective measures regarding the death of political prisoners in prisons and to hold Islamic Republic officials accountable.