Iranian Writers Association Warns: Keyvan Samimi’s Life Is in ‘Serious Danger’
The Iranian Writers Association issued a statement on Friday, December 24, warning that Keyvan Samimi, a political prisoner and head of the Press Freedom Defense Association, is “in serious danger.”
The statement emphasized that Mr. Samimi, who is currently imprisoned in Evin Prison, faces “the risk of transfer to another prison following the publication of a letter titled ‘Quasi-Intentional Murder’ and references to the death of Bakhtash Abtin.”
In Keyvan Samimi’s letter, written in response to Bakhtash Abtin’s death, he wrote: “If concern and pain do not lead to advocacy and outcry, then it is not pain but at most dissatisfaction. He had pain and protested—unlike many of us who only speak and perhaps write beautifully, but are afraid and refrain from protesting in the streets and public squares.”
Following the deaths of Adel Kianpour and Bakhtash Abtin after being transferred from prison to hospital, concerns about the risk to prisoners’ lives, particularly political prisoners, have increased.
On Wednesday, Hadi Ghomi, director of the Iran Human Rights Campaign, expressed concern in an interview with Voice of America about the life-threatening risk to this 73-year-old political prisoner and the possibility of his transfer to another prison.
The Iran Human Rights Campaign stated in a statement that despite recommendations from authorities for his release for medical treatment, this political prisoner remains illegally detained in Tehran’s Evin Prison.
The human rights organization wrote, citing an informed source: “Given Keyvan Samimi’s advanced age and medical history, the doctor and prison director agree that his prison sentence should be changed, but Amin Veziri, deputy prosecutor and the judicial official responsible for political prisoners, insists that Samimi be transferred to another prison.”
Under Article 502 of Iran’s Code of Criminal Procedure, if imprisonment exacerbates a prisoner’s physical and mental illness, the imprisonment sentence may be suspended.
Keyvan Samimi, a journalist and editor-in-chief of the magazine Iran Tomorrow, was arrested on International Workers’ Day in 2019, tried on charges of “assembly and conspiracy with the intent to disturb national security,” “propaganda against the system,” and “insulting the supreme leader,” and was sentenced to three years in prison.
In an interview with Voice of America on July 31, 2020, in response to the confirmation of his three-year prison sentence, Mr. Samimi said: The Islamic Republic has pursued a policy of suppression and punishment for 40 years and believes victory is achieved through creating fear and terror.
Source: Voice of America
