Qarchak prison officials are preventing political prisoner Zahra Safaei from being sent to hospital to continue treatment for his heart problems.
The warden of Qarchak Prison, Soghra Khodadadi, has not allowed Mrs. Safaei to receive medical treatment despite the doctor’s prescription and her family’s repeated inquiries.
The political prisoner suffered a heart attack in late August and underwent angiography after many hindrances by the authorities of Qarchak Prison. Since then she needs to be regularly visited by a specialist in a hospital, something of which she has been deprived.
Authorities in Qarchak Prison refuse to provide medical treatment to pressure Zahra Safaei. She also suffers from a toothache.
Prison authorities have turned down her request to visit a dentist outside the prison at her own expense. The prison’s clinic has not provided her with any medical treatment.
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 to civil hospitals.”
Iranian authorities however, deliberately deny prisoners, especially those convicted of politically motivated charges, of medical treatment to exert pressure upon them.
Security forces arrested Zahra Safaei in Tehran on February 24, 2020. They also arrested her daughter, Parastoo Mo’ini. They were subsequently transferred to the Intelligence Ministry’s detention center (Ward 209 of Evin Prison). Zahra Safaei and Parastoo Mo’ini were transferred to Qarchak Prison in early March 2020.
On June 28, 2020, Zahra Safaei was temporarily released from Qarchak Prison, until the end of her trial, on bail of 300 million Tomans. But she was rearrested on July 26, 2020, when she went to the Prosecutor’s Office of Evin Prison to review her case and that of her daughter. On July 27, 2020, she was transferred to Qarchak Prison.
Political prisoner Zahra Safaei, 58, suffered a heart stroke on October 27, 2020, after being harassed and intimidated by prison authorities.
