Kurdish Political Prisoner Motaleb Ahmadian in Critical Health During 15th Year of 30-Year Sentence
Kurdish political prisoner Motaleb Ahmadian is in extremely poor health during the fifteenth year of a 30-year prison sentence. Currently held in Fashafouyeh Prison (aka the Greater Tehran Penitentiary), Ahmadian was transferred there following the bombing of Evin Prison. He suffers from multiple serious medical conditions, including duodenal cancer, diaphragmatic hernia, spinal canal stenosis, and a urinary tract infection. Despite medical confirmation from both prison doctors and outside specialists, he has been repeatedly denied access to essential medications.
Repeated Denial of Medication
Despite prescriptions issued by outside doctors and numerous efforts by his family to deliver the medications to the prison, authorities have refused to accept the medication on four separate occasions. The prison’s own medical staff at Fashafouyeh has described Ahmadian’s condition as urgent, and the prison physician claims to be unaware of the refusals.
This continued denial of treatment has led to worsening health, including the recurrence of acid reflux, intestinal inflammation, and an inability to eat. In May 2025. Ahmadian began a hunger strike to protest his conditions.
Letters of Warning and Accounts of Torture
In December 2019, Ahmadian wrote a letter from prison revealing the severity of his untreated medical conditions, the physical torture he endured during detention, and the lack of judicial attention to his case. In the letter, he stated that he suffered fractured vertebrae due to torture and could not afford necessary treatment. According to Iran’s prison regulations, such medical expenses should be covered by the government.
Forced Transfer and Inhumane Conditions
Following his transfer from Evin Prison, Ahmadian was placed in the general ward of Fashafouyeh Prison alongside several other political prisoners. This facility lacks basic medical, sanitary, and standard living conditions. Designed for inmates with ordinary criminal convictions, housing political prisoners in this ward constitutes a clear violation of the principle of separating prisoners based on the nature of their offenses.
Background and Heavy Charges
Born in 1983 in Baneh (Kurdistan province), Motaleb Ahmadian was arrested on October 5, 2010 and held for eight months in solitary confinement in the prisons of Saqqez, Sanandaj, and Sardasht. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison and exile to Minab Prison on charges of “enmity against God” (moharebeh) through alleged membership in the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, a banned Kurdish opposition group. He has also received two additional sentences totaling nine years, along with financial penalties and blood money.
Ahmadianhas been incarcerated in multiple prisons, including Saqqez, Sanandaj, Rajaee Shahr, Evin, and now Fashafouyeh. He has repeatedly faced torture and coercive treatment.
Denial of Medical Furlough and Excessive Bail
According to a report by Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization (the state forensic authority), Ahmadian requires multiple life-saving surgeries, and the execution of his sentence should be suspended. His family has attempted to secure a medical furlough by offering bail of 5 billion tomans—the maximum they could afford—and presenting seven state-employed guarantors. However, Tehran’s prosecutor set bail at 8 billion tomans, effectively blocking any chance of temporary release.
