Friday , 29 March 2024

Jailed Writer Sepideh Gholian Taken to Hospital

Iranwire – Jailed civil rights activist Sepideh Gholian has been transferred to Tehran’s Taleghani Hospital after becoming ill on hunger strike.

The 27-year-old writer has been nil by mouth since last Friday to protest her being held in a prison far away from her family, a tactic routinely deployed by the judiciary to put more pressure on prisoners of conscience.

A source close to Sepideh’s family told the human rights news agency HRANA: “Sepideh was protesting against the authorities ignoring her and her family’s repeated requests that she be transferred to Sepidar prison in Ahvaz.

“Yesterday afternoon, Sepideh was sent to the hospital due to her weak physical state and low blood pressure. She is still on hunger strike.”

Sepideh, from Dezful, was first arrested for her support of the Haft-Tappeh Sugar Factory strikes in 2016. She spent several years in Sepidar and Evin Prisons on fabricated security charges, then was violently rearrested last October for publicly describing the experience.

After contracting Covid-19 in February she was transferred from Bushehr to Ward 209 of Evin Prison, which is overseen by the Ministry of Intelligence, and finally to the women’s ward.

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