Free Iranian Kurdish Prisoner of Conscience Afshin Sohrabzadeh, LIFE IN DANGER THROUGH MEDICAL NEGLECT

URGENT UPDATE MAY 11, 2016 -- KURDISH-IRANIAN PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE AFSHIN SOHRABZADEH IS DYING OF CANCER...DUE TO MEDICAL NEGLECT! HRANA Human Rights News Agency -- According to documents received by HRANA, prison authorities confirmed that Afshin Sohrabzadeh, political prisoner, is diagnosed with colon cancer. The head of the prison has clearly stated that Afshin Sohrabzadeh came close to dying at least once. He emphasized the importance of transfering Afshin Sohrabzadeh to a hospital (AS IS IN FACT REQUIRED UNDER ARTICLES 102, 103 OF THE IRANIAN PRISON CODE) and also asked that Afshin Sohrabzadeh be allowed to serve the rest of his sentence in a bigger and better-equipped prison. Meanwhile this prisoner needs financial support from Iranians for the continuation of his medical treatment.

The head of Minab Prison has confirmed his disease and emphasized that he needed to be hospitalized for proper medical treatment in Hormozgan province. However, despite the dangerous condition of this prisoner, he is still in limbo and without medical treatment in Minab prison.

Mr. Sohrabzadeh had started a hunger strike and had sewn his lips, to protest the rejection of medical furlough requests, on April 11. He currently has breathing problems and internal bleeding. Considering the progress of his disease, he is getting closer to death every day.

He weighs 40 kg and his condition is getting worse, but despite the recommendations of physicians, judicial authorities and the Minab prosecutor continue to prevent him from being transferred to a hospital.

Afshin Sohrabzadeh, due to not being covered by insurance and lack of affordability, is in need of financial support of Iranians. You can send your financial helps to his father’s bank account:

Acount holder: Behrooz Sohrabzadeh

BankName: Melli Bank

Card Number: 6037997109402264

It must be mentioned that Amnesty International issued a statement urging a medical review of his case.

HRANA had reported earlier that despite his family’s follow-up after the early summer last year and paying 40 million IRR, the prisoner who had been transferred to Evin prison for medical treatment, after a few months and without any proper treatment was returned to Minab prison due to the high cost of the treatment (about 700 million IRR) and the inability of his family in paying this amount. Returning the prisoner to his former prison cost his family 10 million and 200 thousand IRR.

According to the close relatives of this prisoner, Mr. Sohrabzadeh was beaten during interrogation sessions by the intelligence officers of Kamyaran which led to the rupture of the hernia and a broken nose and problems of the bladder area, so that he he had to be admitted in two ten-day periods in Sanandaj hospital.

Afshin Sohrabzadeh underwent an intestinal surgery last year which was unsuccessful and led to internal bleeding.

Last year his family offered a deposit of 2 billion IRR to pay for medical furlough, which met with the rejection of Minab prison. They also tried to request a leave for Afshin Sohrabzadeh again this year by putting off a deed, which faced again the rejection of authorities in Minab prison.

It should be noted despite the high cost of the treatment and medication and the inability of his family to afford it, the prisoner because of confiscation of his identification documents at the time of arrest, is deprived of having the health insurance.
SOURCE: HRANA Human Rights News Agency
https://hra-news.org/en/afshin-sohrabzadeh-getting-one-step-closer-death-every-day

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Kamyaran Intelligence Office forces arrested Afshin Sohrabzadeh, a 23-year-old resident of Kermanshah, on the road from Sanandaj to Qazvin on June 8, 2010. Later, Branch Two of Sanandaj Revolutionary Court convicted him of moharebeh (enmity with God) through membership in a Kurdish political party, and sentenced him to 25 years in exile at Minab Prison.

The case was forwarded to the Supreme Court after his lawyer appealed the ruling, but Afshin Sohrabzadeh was transferred to Minab before the Supreme Court could review his sentence. He was informed later while at Minab Prison that the Supreme Leader had upheld his sentence.

In April, Afshin Sohrabzadeh was detained inside Minab Prison’s Quarantine Ward for two months, following an argument with prison forces.

Afshin Sohrabzadeh, a young Kurdish prisoner at Minab Prison, attempted suicide on Wednesday, July 3, in protest of his exile and what he called the “deplorable conditions” of the facility, a local source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. The source, a human rights activist, told the Campaign that Sohrabzadeh, sentenced to 25 years in exile at Minab Prison by the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court, attempted suicide by “swallowing broken light bulb glass” and “cutting his veins with a sharp object.”

After the prisoner was transferred to the prison infirmary, due to the facility’s limitations and the prisoner’s critical condition, he was transferred to a Minab hospital where his stomach was pumped. As
his hospitalization required Prosecutor’s orders, he was returned to Minab Prison, was again transferred from the prison to a hospital outside to pump his stomach, and again returned to prison a few hours later. The human rights activist added that despite the prisoner’s need for hospitalization, prison authorities returned Sohrabzadeh to his ward.