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Iranwire – Younes Azadbar, a labor activist incarcerated in the northern city of Rasht, has described his recent hospitalization following an epileptic episode, saying that both his legs and one hand were tied to his bed with “handcuffs and chains.”
“I’m Younes Azadbar, a political prisoner in Rasht’s Lakan prison who previously spent 11 years in the prisons of the Islamic Republic during the 1980s and subsequent years,” he said in an audio message received by IranWire on October 3.
“I am imprisoned in Rasht’s Lakan prison despite struggling with epilepsy,” he continued, adding, “I suffered an epileptic attack on the morning of Saturday, October 1, and if my cellmates hadn’t acted promptly the outcome could have been different.”
At around noon the next day, Azadbar was granted permission to be transferred to an external hospital and he was admitted to the neurology department of Poorsina Hospital in Rasht, he explained.
During his stay in the hospital, he said, “both of my legs and my right hand were tied with handcuffs and chains.”
He further said that an armed prison guard named Ismail Khosravi was present and subjected him to insults.
“The provincial prisons’ director should be questioned regarding whether the presence of armed agents under his authority complies with the laws,” he said.
On July 19, intelligence agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) arrested the retired telecommunications worker at his home in the city of Sangar, in Gilan province, and took him to Lakan prison.
The following month, the First Branch of the Public Investigation and Revolution in Sangar accused him of “waging war against God, propaganda against the system and membership in anti-system groups.”
