Rajaii Shahr Prison in Karaj; Farhad Fahndej Transferred to Solitary Confinement Under Pretext of Positive COVID-19 Test
Farhad Fahndej, a 61-year-old Baha’i imprisoned citizen, was transferred on Thursday, October 1st, under the pretext of a positive COVID-19 test result to one of the solitary cells in the security ward of Rajaii Shahr Prison in Karaj. Mr. Fahndej, who is serving the eighth year of his ten-year sentence, suffers from gastrointestinal diseases and also has a heart condition. This, combined with his COVID-19 infection, has increased the concerns of Mr. Fahndej’s family members regarding his health status. Hrana previously reported on the infection of 45 Sunni prisoners in Rajaii Shahr Prison in Karaj and warned of the possibility of COVID-19 spreading among inmates held in this prison, stating that political prisoners held in this prison and 75 inmates held in hall 12 are at risk of contracting the coronavirus.
According to a report by Hrana news agency, the news organ of a collection of human rights activists in Iran, on Thursday, October 1st, 1399, Farhad Fahndej, a Baha’i imprisoned citizen in the subsidiary security hall 10 of ward 4 of Rajaii Shahr Prison in Karaj, was transferred under the pretext of a positive COVID-19 test result to one of the solitary cells in the security ward of this prison.
Mr. Fahndej suffers from gastrointestinal diseases and also has a heart condition. This, combined with his COVID-19 infection, has increased the concerns of Mr. Fahndej’s family members regarding his health status.
In this prison, a number of other political prisoners, including Arash Sadeghi who suffers from a malignant type of bone cancer called chondrosarcoma, and Afshin Baymani and Abolqasem Foladavand who suffer from heart disease, are serving their sentences. This will put their lives at greater risk than others in the event of contracting COVID-19.
Hrana previously also reported on the infection of 45 Sunni prisoners in Rajaii Shahr Prison in Karaj and warned of the possibility of COVID-19 spreading among inmates held in this prison, stating that political prisoners held in this prison and 75 inmates held in hall 12 are at risk of contracting the coronavirus.
Amnesty International recently announced that it had seen copies of four letters written by prison authorities, which operate under the supervision of the judiciary, to the Ministry of Health, raising the alarm about a severe shortage of personal protective equipment, disinfectants, and key medical equipment and supplies. The Ministry of Health left these requests unanswered, and Iranian prisons continue to lack the necessary equipment in a catastrophic manner against the spread of contagious diseases.
This is while Asghar Jahangiri, head of the Prison Organization, claimed in the spring of this year regarding the preservation of prisoners’ health that “Iran should be recognized as an innovator in supporting prisoners’ rights in the world.”
Hrana in the month of Mordad of this year in a report entitled “Corona Crisis; A Comprehensive Report on the Situation of Rajaii Shahr Prison in Karaj and the Latest List of Political Prisoners” addressed the situation of political and security prisoners in Rajaii Shahr Prison in Karaj and warned of the possibility of COVID-19 spreading among inmates held in this prison.
Farhad Fahndej, a Baha’i citizen born in 1338 in Torbat Heydarieh city. He was arrested on 26 Mehr 1391 by security forces at his home in Gorgan and after seven months of suspension by branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court under the presidency of Judge Mohammad Moghissseh, was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment on the charge of “propaganda of the Baha’i faith and managing Baha’i organizations.”
This Baha’i citizen was also arrested in 1362 (at the age of 24) and sentenced to 6 years imprisonment. He suffers from gastrointestinal diseases due to unfavorable prison conditions.
Source: Hrana
