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Iran-HRM – Kasra Bani Amerian, a political prisoner with cancer, has been deprived of medical care for about a year and a half in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.
Kasra Bani Amerian can not withstand incarceration due to his health condition.
The 26-year-old political prisoner has previously undergone chemotherapy. He currently has symptoms of leukemia and should be monitored by a specialist and receive medical treatment.
But the judicial authorities have prevented his release in the past 18 months, depriving him of the minimum necessary care and even the medications he urgently needs.
According to an informed source: “Kasra contracted leukemia at a young age. He was treated for years. He now suffers from its effects, including weakness and damage to the form of his both legs… He needs specific medications to maintain his immune system. However, when his family provides the medications, they have to wait several weeks for the prison administration to issue a new permit to deliver the medication. Prison authorities each time ignore the previous permit issued by the prison health service and not deliver the medication he needs.”
The source added: “A few months ago in prison, he was severely injured due to his inability to move his ankle. In such a situation, he desperately needs rehabilitation and long-term supervision of specialists, including orthopedists and physiotherapists, and he must use special shoes that are very expensive. Kasra’s family repeatedly provided the shoes and went to the prison to demand its delivery. But prison officials do not allow Kasra to receive the shoes for unknown reasons. While the prison doctor has repeatedly prescribed him physiotherapy shoes.”
Bani Amerian’s family have tried, without success, to get a compassionate release due to his medical conditions.
Withholding medical treatment is a common tactic used by Iranian authorities to put pressure on political prisoners.
Amnesty International, United Nations Experts, and other human rights organizations have documented numerous occasions on which authorities deprived prisoners in Iran of needed care.
While the actual number is unknown, at least three political prisoners died as a result of inadequate medical treatment or ill treatment in Iran in 2021 including Adel Kianpour, Sasan Niknafs, and Behman Mahjoubi.
