By Jubin Katiraie
The health of three Iranian female political prisoners – Nasrin Sotoudeh, Fatemeh Mosanna, and Zeinab Jalalian – held in solitary confinement in Evin and Kerman prisons is said to deteriorating and there is much concern about their lives.
On September 7, Mosanna was taken to Taleghani Hospital, where she was given an endoscopy and colonoscopy after suffering severe stomachache, diarrhea, and nausea, before being returned to Evin prison. She was not given proper medical care and the prison doctor only visited her a couple of times to inject serum.
On August 31, reports from Evin Prison said that Sotoudeh, then on the 21st day of her hunger strike, wasn’t feeling well, but refused to take the serum. As of writing, she is still on the hunger strike.
Jalalian, a Kurdish political prisoner, who is being held without trial, recently spoke with her family about the horrendous conditions and explained that she could only be transferred if she paid the costs. She’d previously contracted the coronavirus in Qarchak Prison and went on hunger strike to protest being moved from Khoy Prison, which is nearer her family.
Meanwhile, political prisoner Sakineh Parvaneh, who is sentenced to five years and regularly subjected to abuse by Evin Prison officials, has been on the hunger strike since September 5.
Civil activist Azam Shirafkan was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison; five years for “assembly and collusion through inciting people to disrupt national security” and 1.5 years for “propaganda against the state”. The mother of one from Alborz Province is being imprisoned for protesting.
Nurse Roghieh Ghadimi Nouran has been detained in Bushehr Prison without trial for 20 days now, after being arrested at the request of the Health Network and the Governorate of Tangestan.
The volunteer treating Covid-19 patients suffers from cancer and diabetes, so her life is in danger whilst in prison.
Political prisoner Elham Khamseh was forcibly moved to Aminabad Mental Hospital (Razi) on Saturday before being returned to Evin Prison the next day.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Women’s Committee wrote: “Accusing political prisoners of mental disorder and relocating them to a mental hospital is commonly practiced by the clerical regime to intimidate and increase pressure on political opponents and their families. The dual-national prisoner Nazanin Zaghari, student activist Soha Mortezaii, and Kurdish political prisoner Sakineh Parvaneh have been among those who were either taken to a mental hospital or were intimidated with the threat to do so.”
