Iran’s prison authorities prevent a critically ill political prisoner from receiving treatment, while her son remains forcibly disappeared.
Critical health condition and deliberate obstruction
According to informed sources, Shiva Esmaeili’s chronic back pain has become so severe that she can no longer walk unaided and struggles even to breathe. Despite the obvious urgency of her condition, prison officials have not only failed to provide medical care but have intentionally blocked her hospital transfer. In a recent incident, guards halted her transfer at the prison gate, claiming her bank card lacked funds to cover medical expenses, and returned her to her cell. When she pleaded to call her family to arrange payment, the guards coldly refused. One cellmate stated: “Their cruelty is deliberate — they want her to suffer physically until her spirit breaks.”
Lack of medical facilities and institutional cruelty
Esmaeili previously suffered further injury after being transferred to the notorious Qarchak Prison, where unhygienic conditions and lack of medical care worsened her health. Upon her return to Evin, she still received no treatment. The women’s ward of Evin, despite its deceptive reputation for better conditions, faces severe shortages of medicine, a lack of medical specialists, and persistent verbal abuse by guards — creating a system of slow, silent torture for political prisoners.
Background: a politicized and unlawful sentence
Shiva (Masoumeh) Esmaeili, born in 1965, is a retired agricultural engineer from Tehran. She was arrested in November 2020 for peaceful civic activism and held without due process. On 14 May 2023, Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, sentenced her to 10 years in prison on charges of “assembly and collusion against national security,” “propaganda against the regime,” and “acting against national security.” The trial was held behind closed doors and without legal representation. She was also banned from leaving Iran or engaging in social or political activities for two years. Throughout her imprisonment, Esmaeili has been repeatedly denied phone calls and family visits. The latest punishment — a total ban on phone contact — was imposed in June 2025 after she expressed support for the civic campaign “Tuesdays Against Executions.”
Forcible disappearance of her son Mehdi Vafaei Sani
While Esmaeili endures physical pain in Evin, her 37-year-old son, Mehdi Vafaei Sani, has been missing since October 8, 2025. Vafaei Sani, a political prisoner and technical specialist serving a six-year sentence for alleged association with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), was suddenly removed from Ward 7 of Evin Prison and transferred to an unknown location. Since then, he has been allowed only two brief phone calls under supervision and said he is being held in solitary confinement. According to family sources, he suffers from gastrointestinal illness and has been denied medication. Security agents have threatened his family not to speak publicly. His brother, Seyed Ali Vafaei Sani, is also serving a five-year sentence in Evin, while their cousin, Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, remains under a death sentence in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad. The persecution of this entire family highlights the regime’s systematic use of collective punishment to suppress dissent.
Escalating pressure on women prisoners
The denial of medical care to Shiva Esmaeili is part of a wider policy of “white torture” targeting women political prisoners in Iran. Reports from Evin indicate a pattern of deliberate psychological abuse, isolation, and deprivation of communication rights. Despite her worsening condition, Esmaeili’s fellow inmates have formed a symbolic “human chain” around her in solidarity. One prisoner told sources: “Even in pain, Shiva tells us not to give up. Her courage keeps this ward alive.”
Legal violations under international law
The treatment of Shiva Esmaeili and her family constitutes severe violations of Iran’s obligations under international human rights law:
– Article 5, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR): Prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
– Article 10, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR): All persons deprived of liberty must be treated with humanity and respect for their inherent dignity.
– Article 12, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR): The right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
The deliberate deprivation of medical care in life-threatening conditions amounts to both physical and psychological torture and places responsibility squarely on Evin Prison authorities and Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence.
Conclusion and call for international action
Shiva Esmaeili’s case exposes the Iranian regime’s systematic use of medical neglect and family persecution as instruments of repression. The deliberate cruelty inflicted upon her and the enforced disappearance of her son demonstrate that the purpose is not justice, but the slow destruction of dissidents’ bodies and morale. International human rights bodies — including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran — must urgently intervene to save her life and locate her son. Silence in the face of this cruelty enables the continuation of white torture and the erasure of political prisoners in Iran.
