Amnesty International Report Documents 96 Cases of Intentional Deaths of Prisoners in Iran

Amnesty International has documented nearly one hundred cases of intentional deaths of ill prisoners in Iranian prisons in a new investigative report.

The detailed report, titled “In Death’s Waiting Room: Deaths from Deprivation of Medical Care in Iran’s Prisons,” was published on Tuesday, April 13.

The investigative report explains in great detail how prison authorities in the Islamic Republic have played a role in or been directly responsible for prisoners’ deaths by preventing or delaying emergency transfers of prisoners to hospitals.

According to the documented report, 64 of the 96 prisoners whose cases Amnesty International examined died inside prisons.

Amnesty International writes in this regard that “among these, many died in their cells, meaning they did not even receive basic medical care in their final hours of life. Others lost their lives while being held in prison infirmaries with only basic equipment.”

According to the report, 26 prisoners also died during transfer to hospitals or shortly after admission as a result of deliberate and fatal delays by medical staff or prison officials.

Amnesty International states in its report: “In at least six cases, ill prisoners were transferred to solitary cells, punishment wards, or quarantine. Among these, four died in solitary confinement in prison, while the remaining two eventually received permission for hospital transfer, but only when it was too late; they died either during transfer to hospital or shortly after admission.”

In the overwhelming majority of documented cases, the deceased prisoners were young or middle-aged: 23 were between 19 and 39 years old, and 26 were between 40 and 59 years old.

In Amnesty International’s investigative report, “systematic impunity for human rights violators in Iran” is cited as one of the factors that allows prison authorities to continue the deadly process of depriving prisoners of medical care.

Amnesty International calls this judicial impunity a crisis and adds: “Given this situation, Amnesty International once again emphasizes the urgent necessity of establishing an international mechanism by the United Nations Human Rights Council to collect, analyze, and preserve evidence and documentation related to the most serious international crimes committed in Iran, with the aim of facilitating fair criminal prosecution in the future.”

Previously, in September of last year, following the release of videos showing how prison guards treated prisoners in Iran, Amnesty International, noting the continued refusal of Islamic Republic authorities to investigate the matter, “once again called for the establishment of an accountability and investigative mechanism by the United Nations Human Rights Council” to address this issue.

In Amnesty International’s new report, Diana Al-Tahawy, Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Office of the organization, emphasized: “Until effective, complete, transparent, impartial, and independent investigations are conducted to determine the circumstances leading to prisoners’ deaths and identify those responsible for these deaths, the shadow of death will continue to hang heavily over Iran’s sick prisoners.”

In one section of this investigative report, statistics of the 96 prisoners are presented by province, according to which the provinces of West Azerbaijan, Tehran, Sistan and Baluchestan, and Karaj rank first with 28, 16, 15, and 12 deceased prisoners respectively.

Of these 96 documented deaths, 65 prisoners died in just the past five years, which, even if attributable to greater access to information in recent years, “still serves as a warning sign that serious violations of the right to life and bodily integrity throughout Iran’s prisons have not diminished and continue unabated, facilitated by a climate of impunity for violators of prisoners’ rights.”

According to the report, of the 96 documented deaths, Amnesty International has access to documentation regarding the legal status of 69 of the prisoners, showing that at least 57 of them were serving their sentences and 12 of the deceased prisoners were held in pre-trial detention.

Also, among the 96 prisoners whose deaths were documented, “the files of 20 of them had a political nature with national security charges”; charges that are repeatedly leveled in the Islamic Republic against civil activists, human rights defenders, writers, political opponents, and members of ethnic minorities.

According to this investigative report, the files of the other 76 deceased prisoners “were non-political in nature.”

By documenting all these cases and in order to prevent further preventable deaths resulting from deprivation of vital medical care, Amnesty International has asked the Islamic Republic authorities to “until structural reforms are implemented in prison infirmaries, mandate both in law and practice that prisoners with emergency conditions be immediately transferred to treatment centers outside prisons.”

Amnesty International has also asked the Islamic Republic authorities to “amend the deeply flawed provisions of the prison organization’s executive regulations that authorize prison managers and prosecutors to override medical recommendations and be the final decision-makers regarding the transfer of prisoners for treatment outside prisons.”

Source: Radio Farda