AI: Iran regime's denial of medical care to political prisoners is cruel and utterly indefensible

Iran is putting political prisoners lives at risk by denying them medical care

Amnesty International: Iran’s authorities are callously toying with the lives of prisoners of conscience and other political prisoners by denying them adequate medical care, putting them at grave risk of death, permanent disability or other irreversible damage to their health, according to a new report by Amnesty International published today.
The report, Health taken hostage: Cruel denial of medical care in Iran’s prisons, provides a grim snapshot of health care in the country’s prisons. It presents strong evidence that the judiciary, in particular the Office of the Prosecutor, and prison administrations deliberately prevent access to adequate medical care, in many cases as an intentional act of cruelty intended to intimidate, punish or humiliate political prisoners, or to extract forced “confessions” or statements of “repentance” from them.
 “In Iran a prisoner’s health is routinely taken hostage by the authorities, who recklessly ignore the medical needs of those in custody. Denying medical care to political prisoners is cruel and utterly indefensible,” said Philip Luther, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.
“Prisoners’ access to health care is a right enshrined in both international and Iranian law. When depriving a prisoner of medical care causes severe pain or suffering and it is intentionally done for purposes such as punishment, intimidation or to extract a forced ‘confession’, it constitutes torture.”
The report details 18 appalling cases of prisoners who have been denied medical care in some form and are at risk of suffering permanent damage to their health.
 Prisoners subjected to a shocking range of abuses
The report provides a deeply disturbing image of the Office of the Prosecutor, which in Iran is responsible for decisions concerning medical leave and hospital transfers. The Office of the Prosecutor often refuses to authorize hospital transfers for sick prisoners even though the care they need is not available in prison, and denies requests for medical leave for critically ill prisoners against doctors’ advice.

Iran: regime agents deny medical care for political prisoner Narges Mohammadi

Political prisoner Narges Mohammadi

Political prisoner Narges Mohammadi, already deprived of a phone call with her twin children for over two months now, is currently under extremely harsh physical conditions imposed by the Iranian regime agents, reports indicate.
The mullahs’ judiciary officials are preventing her transfer to a hospital despite the fact that medical specialists and even Evin Prison physicians have emphasized on her need to be hospitalized.
Mohammadi is facing charges such as collusion, assembly against national security and propaganda against the state. She is scheduled to be prosecuted on October 7th by Salavati, a so-called judge in branch 15 of the regime’s courts in Tehran
In addition to polititical repressions against Iranian women,more women in Iran become unemployed&live in poverty

Last year the International Monetary Fund said Iran has an unemployment rate of 11.2%, ranking 26th in the world in this regard.In recent years a significant increase in women’s unemployment has played a large role in the calculation of unemployment in Iran. Women who are both educated and yet unemployed. Last week the Iranian regime’s vice president in women and family affairs said more than 40% of college educated women in Iran are unemployed.
“Unemployment amongst women with higher education and single mothers not only plays against their interests, it also has a majorly negative impact as the country is not being able to take advantage of these human resources,” Molavardi said.
“Currently, not only are women who have been deprived of education and necessary skills more likely to fall into crimes, but also there is a high number of educated women that are engulfed in economic problems and have resorted to committing crimes,” said Hossein Raghfar, a university professor. (State-run Fararu.com website – September 12, 2015)
The state-run Mizan news agency wrote the following piece: “A report of the Census Center on unemployment rates in spring 2015 shows unemployment amongst the country’s above 10 population standing at 10.8%. This is 9% amongst men and 19.2% amongst women. Unemployment amongst men in various age groups is 21.8%, and 47.2% amongst women.”