![\"\"](\"http:\/\/iransos.com\/en\/photo\/2011\/d\/deat-in-prison.jpg\")
New Report on Iran\u2019s Prison Deaths Raises Concern for the Lives of 18 Prisoners of Conscience on Hunger Strike – (24 June 2011) Iran\u2019s pattern of prison abuse and neglect demonstrates that the lives of prisoners of conscience are at risk, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today, with the publication of a new report, Death in Prison: No One Held Accountable.<\/p>\n
The Campaign holds Iranian authorities at the highest levels accountable for the health and well-being of eighteen prisoners of conscience now on their sixth day of a hunger strike.
\n\u201cIranian prisons are a death trap for prisoners of conscience,\u201d said Aaron Rhodes, a spokesperson for the Campaign. \u201cOfficials must change the culture of unchecked impunity in Iranian prisons and give all prisoners the protections they are promised under international law.\u201d
\nThe Persian-language report documents the deaths of 17 political prisoners and prisoners of conscience who have died while in custody in Iranian prisons since 2003, allegedly due to torture, medical neglect, and misconduct of prison authorities. (English Summary)
\nSix of the prisoners were detained and died after the 2009 election and the ensuing crackdown on government critics and political opponents. No one has yet been held accountable, despite the fact that in all these instances, family members or lawyers of the prisoners have alleged that authorities were responsible for the deaths due to their physical abuse of the inmate or inadequate medical attention.
\nIn all the cases detailed in the report, Iranian officials never provided full or compelling accounts for the prisoners\u2019 deaths. Authorities failed to launch full or independent investigations in most instances. In several cases, authorities even denied lawyers and family members access to details about the prisoner\u2019s death, such as autopsy reports, and did not allow lawyers or family members to file grievances. In the high profile case of Canadian-Iranian journalist, Zahra Kazemi, prosecutors did bring criminal charges against alleged perpetrators, but only against low-level prison guards who were later acquitted.
\nThe Campaign believes the number of deaths caused by official wrongdoing would be greater than the 17 published in the report if undocumented cases and the cases of ordinary non-political inmates were accounted for.
\nThe Campaign\u2019s report comes out five days after twelve prominent prisoners of conscience commenced a hunger strike protesting the recent deaths of two prisoners, women\u2019s rights activist Haleh Sahabi, and dissident journalist, Hoda Saber. On 23 of June, six more prominent prisoners of conscience have joined the protest bring the number of hunger striking prisoners to eighteen. \u00a0These men are journalist Kayvan Samimi, journalist Issa Saharkhiz, journalist Massoud Bastani, political activist Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, human rights defender Jafar Eghdami, and student activist Ali Ajami.
\nSahabi died from a heart attack while on furlough, when security forces raided the funeral of her father. Saber died of a heart attack while on a hunger strike. Family members and other prisoners have alleged his death was linked to physical abuse and the failure of prison officials to transfer him to a hospital in a timely manner.
\nNobel Peace Prize Laureate, Shirin Ebadi, and numerous human rights organizations have expressed concern for the well-being of the hunger striking prisoners of conscience. On 22 June, authorities moved two of the hunger striking prisoners, 65-year-old opposition figure Abolfazl Ghadyani, and student activist Abdollah Momeni, to Evin Prison\u2019s clinic to receive treatment for their deteriorating health, according to Kalame, an opposition news website.
\n\u201cAuthorities must do what they can to safeguard the well-being of these hunger striking prisoners,\u201d Rhodes concluded.\u00a0 \u201cThe tragic circumstances that led to the deaths of Zahra Kazemi, Hoda Saber, and others, must not be revisited.\u201d
\nThe Campaign calls for Iranian officials to reopen the cases detailed in Death in Prison: No One Held Accountable, urges authorities to launch independent investigations into the recent deaths of Sahabi and Saber, and for the responsible persons to be prosecuted and held accountable.<\/p>\n
Listen to the Campaign’s Weekly Iran Rights Podcast<\/p>\n
For the latest human rights developments in Iran visit the Campaign\u2019s website<\/p>\n
For interviews or more information:<\/p>\n
Hadi Ghaemi, in New York: +1 917-669-5996
\nAaron Rhodes, in Hamburg: \u00a0+49 170-323-8314<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Report on Iran\u2019s Prison Deaths Raises Concern for the Lives of 18 Prisoners of Conscience on Hunger Strike – (24 June 2011) Iran\u2019s pattern of prison abuse and neglect<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=233"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233\/revisions\/236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}