Monday , 29 April 2024

Female political prisoner denied medical care in northwest Iran prison

Iran-HRM – Political prisoner Khadijeh Mehdipour has been denied medical treatment despite severe digestive problems.

political prisoner Khadijeh Mehdipour

She suffers from severe nausea when eating food and drinking water and has lost 8 kg in the last two months.

According to an informed source, the prosecutor forbids her transfer to Tehran to treat her digestive disease and the black spot in her eye that appeared in prison.

Khadijeh Mehdipour is serving a 20-month sentence in Ilam Prison, western Iran, where she has been held along with common criminals in violation of the principle of segregation of crimes.

A few female prisoners convicted of violent crimes beat her on February 10, 2022. It was then that Khadijeh’s eye was injured.

In January this year, the political prisoner contracted Covid-19 but was deprived of proper medical care.

According to the UN’s Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, which all UN Member States are expected to abide by, “…Sick prisoners who require specialist treatment shall be transferred to specialized institutions or civil hospitals.”

Iranian authorities, however, deliberately deny prisoners, especially those convicted of politically motivated charges, medical treatment to exert pressure upon them.

The Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence agents arrested 34-year-old Khadijeh at her uncle’s house on October 10, 2021. They transferred her to Ilam Prison after two days.

The Revolutionary Court ultimately tried her on charges of “propaganda against the state” and insulting the mullahs’ regime leaders. Under Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, she was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment.

She was also acquitted of “sympathizing with anti-regime groups.” According to an informed source, Ms. Mehdipur was told that she would not be eligible for parole and early release because she did not repent.

Khadijeh has another arrest on her record. The security forces in Ilam arrested her on October 3, 2020. The Revolutionary Court of Ilam ordered her to pay 3 million Tomans in cash to avoid being imprisoned.

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