{"id":1321,"date":"2018-10-27T15:52:41","date_gmt":"2018-10-27T15:52:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=1321"},"modified":"2018-10-27T15:54:45","modified_gmt":"2018-10-27T15:54:45","slug":"irans-judiciary-should-release-ailing-prisoner-saeed-malekpour-on-medical-grounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=1321","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s Judiciary Should Release Ailing Prisoner Saeed Malekpour on Medical Grounds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imprisoned in Iran\u2019s Evin Prison since 2008, Canadian permanent resident Saeed Malekpour was hospitalized for a \u201cheart attack\u201d at the age of 43, according to his sister.<\/p><\/div>\n

October 26, 2018 \u2013 A Canadian resident imprisoned in Iran for the last 10 years should be released on medical grounds given his deteriorating health status, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement today.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaeed Malekpour\u00a0has already spent the prime of his life in an Iranian prison where he has developed serious medical issues,\u201d said CHRI\u2019s Executive Director Hadi Ghaemi.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis peaceful, young man should be immediately released so that his medical problems can be addressed,\u201d said Ghaemi.<\/p>\n

Malekpour was rushed to Taleghani Hospital in Tehran during the evening of October 19, 2018, from Iran\u2019s Evin Prison after experiencing what his sister told CHRI was \u201clater diagnosed by hospital staff as a heart attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Saeed got back to the prison, he called me and said that during the four days he spent in the hospital, he had been chained to his bed by his wrist and ankle and couldn\u2019t sleep well,\u201d said Maryam Malekpour during a phone interview from her home in Canada on October 25, 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prison guards who accompanied Saeed were so hostile to him that the other patient in the room complained,\u201d she added. \u201cThey wouldn\u2019t stop harassing him\u2014even in the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maryam added that her brother has suffered kidney stones, prostate issues and arthritis during the decade he has spent in Evin Prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy only wish is that they let him go free,\u201d she said. \u201cTen years of suffering is enough for him and his family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maryam Malekpour added that she was greatly distressed after seeing a photo of her hospitalized brother on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaeed was not allowed to have visits but many of his friends and relatives went to the hospital and saw him from behind the window,\u201d she told CHRI. \u201cThis photo was probably taken by one of his friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t seen Saeed for many years and the photo really upset me. I don\u2019t know what to do. I feel awful and helpless,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Repeatedly Denied Furlough<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maryam Malekpour also told CHRI that judicial authorities have never allowed her brother to go on furlough, despite the fact that this is standard procedure in Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the late winter of [2018], the prosecutor met with the prisoners and told Saeed personally that he would grant him five days of furlough,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut in the end, they said the prosecutor was opposed to granting furlough,\u201d she added. \u201cIn effect, they played with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furlough<\/a>, temporary leave typically granted to prisoners in Iran for a variety of familial, holiday and medical reasons, is routinely denied to political prisoners as a form of additional punishment.<\/p>\n

Saeed Malekpour, 43, was a computer programmer and web developer living as a permanent resident in Canada before he was arrested by agents of Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) during a visit to Iran in 2008 and charged with \u201cinsulting the sacred\u201d for allegedly creating an online pornographic network.<\/p>\n

In September 2010, a Revolutionary Court sentenced him to death in a trial\u00a0egregiously lacking in due process<\/a>. The sentence was\u00a0commuted<\/a>\u00a0from death to life imprisonment in August 2013.<\/p>\n

In a\u00a0March 2010\u00a0letter<\/a>, Saeed Malekpour said his confession, which was later televised, was given under physical and psychological torture. Iran has a well-documented history of\u00a0forcing so-called \u201cconfessions\u201d<\/a>from detainees.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s State Prisons Organization and the judiciary are responsible for ensuring the safety and well-being of all detainees held in state custody.<\/p>\n

The State Prison Procedures state in Article 120 that \u201cThe head of the prison\u2019s infirmary is required to \u2026 [ensure] that they receive adequate care from doctors and nurses, [and] he must supervise the patients\u2019 proper diet and recovery completely and continually.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the UN\u2019s Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, which all UN Member States are expected to abide by, \u201c\u2026Sick prisoners who require specialist treatment shall be transferred to specialized institutions or to civil hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet CHRI and the UN have\u00a0documented<\/a>\u00a0multiple cases wherein the Iranian authorities\u2019 denial of proper medical care and recovery time to prisoners held under politically motivated charges have resulted in irreparable harm, including death.<\/p>\n

The case of former political prisoner\u00a0Alireza Rajaei<\/a>, who lost part of his face in August 2017 due to sinus cancer that was left untreated in Evin Prison, put the spotlight on the ongoing\u00a0denial of medical care<\/a>\u00a0to political prisoners in Iran.<\/p>\n

Three months later, in October 2017, labor activist Mohammad Jarrahi\u00a0died<\/a>\u00a0from thyroid cancer that was left untreated while he was held as a political prisoner in Tabriz Prison. Fellow labor activist\u00a0Shahrokh Zamani<\/a>\u00a0had also died of a\u00a0heart attack<\/a>\u00a0in September 2015 after being denied medical care in Rajaee Shahr Prison.<\/p>\n

Political prisoner\u00a0Omid Kokabee<\/a>\u00a0was diagnosed with advanced kidney cancer in 2016 after years of repeatedly being denied treatment for his symptoms in Evin Prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the responsibility of Iran\u2019s State Prisons Organization and the judiciary to safeguard the well-being of all detainees in Iran yet they have repeatedly failed on this front,\u201d said Ghaemi.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of standing by while Saeed Malekpour\u2019s life slips away, Iran\u2019s judiciary should free him so that he can obtain the medical care Iran\u2019s own laws mandate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For interviews, contact:
\nHadi Ghaemi
\n+1-917-669-5996
\nhadighaemi@iranhumanrights.org<\/p>\n

Visit our website:\u00a0www.iranhumanrights.org<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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