Raheleh Rahmipour Deprived of Medical Treatment: Prison or Gradual Death

Despite her physical deterioration, Raheleh Rahmipour is deprived of medical treatment and experiencing gradual death in Qarchak Prison in Varamin.

Raheleh Rahmipour, a 73-year-old civil activist, despite suffering from dangerous illnesses including brain tumor, heart problems, and diabetes, continues to be held in Qarchak Prison in Varamin without receiving necessary medical care. This is while the responsible medical institution has determined that her health condition is unsuitable for enduring imprisonment and has emphasized the necessity of her immediate transfer to medical facilities outside the prison.

Despite medical confirmation of this prisoner’s inability to tolerate continued detention, no serious steps have been taken thus far for her medical furlough or conditional release. Sources close to Rahmipour’s family say that her physical condition is concerning and the stressful prison environment has exacerbated her illnesses.

Raheleh Rahmipour was previously transferred from Evin Prison to the medical ward several times due to heart attacks and seizures, and on one occasion required emergency angioplasty. She was transferred from prison to the hospital in Mordad 1403 due to worsening headaches, and imaging results showed that her previous brain tumor had grown and a new mass had formed adjacent to it.

Despite the family’s follow-ups, responsible authorities have evaded accepting legal responsibility for decision-making regarding this prisoner’s medical condition and have not clarified which institution can ultimately decide on her release or transfer.

Rahmipour was arrested in Aban of last year and was initially transferred to Evin Prison. Following a recent attack on that prison, she was transferred along with a group of female prisoners to Qarchak Prison. This transfer, which took place in media silence, has increased concerns about prisoners’ limited access to medical facilities, contact with family, and living conditions.

According to the latest court ruling in the appeals court, this prisoner’s sentence was reduced to four years and two months, but she continues to serve her sentence, while many doctors consider her continued detention in prison to be a serious threat to her life.

The government institutions’ disregard for the health condition of political and ideological prisoners, including Raheleh Rahmipour, is indicative of a systematic process of silent and cruel repression that civil activists face in the Islamic Republic. Deliberate deprivation of treatment, psychological pressures, sudden transfers, and denial of legal responsibility by judicial institutions are only part of the tools used for the physical and psychological wear-down of dissidents. This approach not only contradicts the basic principles of human rights, but adds to the wounds of a society that demands justice, human dignity, and freedom of expression.