{"id":884,"date":"2016-04-15T14:05:04","date_gmt":"2016-04-15T14:05:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=884"},"modified":"2016-04-15T14:05:04","modified_gmt":"2016-04-15T14:05:04","slug":"lawyer-released-from-prison-in-iran-describes-grim-conditions-for-political-prisoners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=884","title":{"rendered":"Lawyer Released from Prison in Iran Describes Grim Conditions for Political Prisoners"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mohammad Seifzadeh, the prominent Iranian human rights lawyer<\/p><\/div>\n

April 14, 2016\u2014 Prisoners Face Denial of Medical Care,\u00a0Refusal to Transfer Inmates to Hospital despite Life Threatening Illness,\u00a0Solitary Confinement Aimed at Extracting False Confessions,\u00a0Poor Nutrition,\u00a0Denial of Family Visits<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mohammad Seifzadeh, the prominent Iranian human rights lawyer who for years defended political prisoners in Iran and railed against the inhumane conditions of their incarceration, was freed on March 10, 2016 after serving his own five-year prison sentence, and spoke at length about the harsh conditions he experienced first-hand as a political prisoner.
\nSeifzadeh described the denial of medical care and critically needed hospitalization, white torture (sensory deprivation and isolation), poor nutrition, unsanitary quarters, insufficient fresh air, and denial of family visits in an extended interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. These conditions directly violate Iran\u2019s own laws and State Prison Procedures.
\n\u201cSeifzadeh\u2019s imprisonment for defending human rights in Iran was a travesty of justice to begin with,\u201d said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, \u201cand the conditions he and other political prisoners face are an affront to the rule of law and the most minimal standards of humane treatment.\u201d
\n\u201cPresident Rouhani needs to defend his citizens and confront the Judiciary over these violations,\u201d added Ghaemi.
\nSeifzadeh, who was imprisoned for his work defending political prisoners in Iran, also revealed that during his detention in Ward 209 of Evin Prison in Tehran, which is controlled by the Intelligence Ministry, he was put under extreme pressure to falsely incriminate his former colleague, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Shirin Ebadi. Seifzadeh and Ebadi were founding members of the banned Defenders of Human Rights Center.
\n\u201cWhen that was going on, I was in solitary confinement and my blood pressure shot up\u2026It was out of control. They took me to the General Ward 350 and I had a stroke but they didn\u2019t say it was a stroke,\u201d Seifzadeh told the Campaign.
\nSolitary confinement is a common tactic used in Iran to increase psychological pressure on a prisoner to extract a false confession, which is then used as evidence to convict.\u2028\u2028\u201cThey didn\u2019t give me any treatment. They didn\u2019t even take me to the infirmary. My hands and feet gradually went numb. My hearing and vision weakened. I fell on the ground when I tried to stand,\u201d he said. \u201cFinally, when the official medical commission looked into [my case] much later in March 2016, it said I had suffered a stroke.\u201d
\nIn October 2010, Seifzadeh was sentenced to nine years in prison and banned from practicing law for 10 years for \u201cacting against national security through establishing the Defenders of Human Rights Center.\u201d\u00a0He was arrested while on bail on April 6, 2011 for allegedly attempting to leave the country.
\nThe Appeals Court reduced Seifzadeh\u2019s sentence to two years in prison, but while he was serving time he was sentenced to an additional six years for writing open letters and signing political statements with other prisoners of conscience.
\nSeifzadeh was released after serving five years, under\u00a0Article 134\u00a0of Iran\u2019s Penal Code, which allows prisoners charged with multiple offences to only serve the\u00a0maximum sentence assigned for their most serious offense.
\nThe human rights lawyer told the Campaign that doctors from one of Tehran\u2019s hospitals for cardiology had warned that he was at serious risk for a deadly heart attack or stroke if he remained in prison, but the authorities ignored the warning.
\n\u201cI had one medical problem after the other, and eventually they illegally exiled me to Rajaee Shahr Prison [in Karaj, west of Tehran] without a judicial order,\u201d he said.
\nPolitical prisoners in Iran are singled out for harsh treatment, which often includes denial of medical care.
\n\u201cI had breathing problems while sleeping and also while I was awake,\u201d he said. \u201cThey took me to Baharloo Hospital and I was connected to a machine, which showed that during the night I briefly stopped breathing nine times and woke up 13 times, therefore I could not have any sort of deep sleep all night.\u201d
\n\u201cI paid all the hospital bills myself,\u201d added Seifzadeh. \u201cIt would be unthinkable for the prison authorities or the health system to pay a prisoner\u2019s expenses. There\u2019s no budget set aside for it. If you don\u2019t pay the bills, you won\u2019t get treatment on time and you don\u2019t know if you\u2019ll live or die.\u201d\u2028\u2028\u201cEvery prisoner [sent to the hospital] has three agents to watch him and is responsible for their expenses, such as meals, too,\u201d he added.
\n\u201cThe clinic did not have medicines to treat anything worse than a cold, let alone high blood pressure,\u201d he told the Campaign. \u201cBad nutrition and lack of vitamins weakened the prisoners.\u201d
\n\u201cFruits and vegetables are non-existent,\u201d continued Seifzadeh. \u201cSome of us prepared our own food. We gave a list of things we needed and they would buy it for us from outside at our own expense. But there were also those who only ate prison food,\u201d he said. \u201cTwo days a week there was stew and on other days it was only rice and soybean oil, which was greasy and unhealthy.\u201d\u2028\u2028\u201cThe cells had no ventilation,\u201d Seifzadeh said. \u201cIn Evin Prison, the cell doors opened at a quarter to seven in the morning and you could take in fresh air until sunset, but in Rajaee Shahr we could only stay outside for three hours.\u201d
\nHe added that \u201cthe prison was not in any condition to hold that many prisoners,\u201d and that they \u201cused sub-standard detergents and as a result many of the prisoners developed skin allergies.\u201d
\nSeifzadeh also told the Campaign that the interference waves aimed at disrupting mobile phones from functioning inside the prison were so strong that they caused many prisoners to suffer from headaches and nausea. \u201cI think it was a factor in my strokes as well,\u201d he said.
\nThe prisoners\u2019 living quarters would also be subjected to occasional raids. \u201c[In Rajaee Shahr Prison] they would conduct illegal searches to look for mobile phones\u2026Having a mobile phone is not illegal, but they don\u2019t want prisoners to give interviews to anyone outside the prison, so they would grab the mobiles,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cOften times, both the prisoner and his family suffer injustice,\u201d said Seifzadeh. \u201cIn our case, [political prisoners] were not only arrested illegally, but also subjected to unfair trials.\u201d
\nHe noted the prisoners in Rajaee Shahr Prison were only allowed one 20-minute family visit per month. However, Seifzadeh was denied family visits for most of his own prison term, keeping with the harsher conditions that political prisoners are subjected to in Iran.
\n\u201cMany of the Rajaee Shahr and Evin Prison inmates are from different cities. They should be sent to prisons near their families,\u201d Seifzadeh said. \u201cThere were several instances when family members got into road accidents, and even died, on their way to prison visits.\u201d\u2028\u2028Hundreds of political prisoners remain in Iranian jails, some dating back to the widely disputed 2009 presidential election in Iran that ended with a violent state crackdown on peaceful protestors. Many Iranians have urged Rouhani to\u00a0follow through\u00a0on his presidential campaign promise of freeing political prisoners.<\/p>\n

Follow the\u00a0Campaign on Facebook and Twitter
\nFor the latest human rights developments in Iran visit the Campaign\u2019s website
\nFor interviews, contact:
\nHadi Ghaemi at +1-917-669-5996, hadighaemi@iranhumanrights.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 14, 2016\u2014 Prisoners Face Denial of Medical Care,\u00a0Refusal to Transfer Inmates to Hospital despite Life Threatening Illness,\u00a0Solitary Confinement Aimed at Extracting False Confessions,\u00a0Poor Nutrition,\u00a0Denial of Family Visits<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[147],"class_list":["post-884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights","tag-mohammad-seifzadeh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884","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=884"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":885,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884\/revisions\/885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}