Political prisoner Arash Sadeghi, held at Rajaei Shahr Prison of Karaj, has been denied adequate medical treatment and left in agony, after the dull ache in his arm first began in June 2018 being diagnosed as bone cancer.
Sadeghi’s family requested to transfer him to a cancer treatment hospital but the authorities only allowed them to refer to Madani Hospital in Karaj which does not provide a service to treat and support people with cancer.
Reliably informed sources say Arash Sadeghi is facing grave health concerns with multiple health problems caused by a long course of hunger strike and harsh prison condition. He should undergo surgery or chemotherapy in cancer treatment centres, but Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are preventing the hospitalization of the political prisoner.
The political prisoner and human rights activist is suffering also from severe digestive and respiratory complications, abdominal pain and bleeding and an irregular heartbeat. Since December 2016, doctors have repeatedly said that he requires long-term specialized care in a hospital. However, the authorities have blocked his transfer to hospital.
Arash Sadeghi a 31-year-old civil rights activist, has been imprisoned since June 2016, serving two separate prison terms totalling 19 years imposed for his peaceful human rights activities including communicating with Amnesty International and sending information to the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran and members of the European Parliament on the human rights situation in Iran. Since January 2017, when he ended a 71-day hunger strike launched in protest against the imprisonment of his wife, he has been in a critical state of health and the authorities have blocked his access to necessary health care outside prison in order to punish him.
In a Amnesty International has repeatedly raised concenrn over the grim conditon of the activist saying “The delay in transferring Arash Sadeghi to a hospital is cruel, inhuman and degrading.”
“The Iranian authorities’ treatment of Arash Sadeghi has been utterly deplorable. First they unjustly imprisoned him, then they ignored his legitimate protest against his wife’s unwarranted imprisonment for weeks, and now they are denying him urgent medical care. They must stop endangering his health and his life and order his transfer to hospital immediately, pending his unconditional release,” said Philip Luther, Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
