Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj; Farhad Fahndezh Transferred to Solitary Confinement Under Pretext of Positive Coronavirus Test
Farhad Fahndezh, a 61-year-old imprisoned Bahai citizen, was transferred on Thursday, October 1st, 2020, under the pretext of testing positive for coronavirus to one of the solitary cells in the secure ward of Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj. Mr. Fahndezh, who is serving the eighth year of his ten-year sentence, suffers from gastrointestinal diseases and also struggles with heart disease. This, coupled with his coronavirus infection, has increased the concerns of Mr. Fahndezh’s relatives regarding his health condition. Hrana previously reported on the infection of 45 Sunni prisoners in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj and warned about the possibility of coronavirus spreading among imprisoned inmates 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 Hrana, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists group in Iran, on Thursday, October 1st, 2020, Farhad Fahndezh, an imprisoned Bahai citizen in the security section of Hall 10, Ward 4 of Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj, was transferred under the pretext of testing positive for coronavirus to one of the solitary cells in the secure ward of this prison.
Mr. Fahndezh suffers from gastrointestinal diseases and also struggles with heart disease. This, coupled with his coronavirus infection, has increased the concerns of Mr. Fahndezh’s relatives regarding his health condition.
In this prison, a number of other political prisoners, including Arash Sadeghi who suffers from a malignant type of bone cancer called chondrosarcoma, Afshin Baymani, and Abolghasem Foladavand who suffer from heart disease, are serving their sentences; this will put their lives at even greater risk in case of coronavirus infection compared to others.
Hrana previously reported on the infection of 45 Sunni prisoners in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj and warned about the possibility of coronavirus spreading among imprisoned inmates 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, operating under the supervision of the judiciary, to the Ministry of Health, sounding an alarm about the 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 catastrophically lack mandatory equipment against the spread of contagious diseases.
This is while Asghar Jahangir, head of the prison organization, claimed earlier this year regarding the preservation of prisoners’ health that “Iran should be recognized as a pioneer in supporting prisoners’ rights in the world.”
Hrana published a report last month titled “Coronavirus Crisis; A Comprehensive Report on the Situation of Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj and the Latest List of Political Prisoners,” addressing the situation of political and security prisoners in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj and warning about the possibility of coronavirus spreading among imprisoned inmates in this prison.
Farhad Fahndezh, a Bahai citizen born in 1359 (1980) in Turbat Heydarieh city, was arrested on September 17th, 1991 by security forces at his home in Gorgan. After seven months of uncertainty, he was sentenced by Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court under the presidency of Judge Mohammad Moghisseh to ten years imprisonment on charges of “propaganda of the Bahai faith and managing Bahai organizations.”
This Bahai citizen was also arrested in 1983 (at the age of 24) and sentenced to 6 years imprisonment. Due to unfavorable prison conditions, he suffers from gastrointestinal diseases.
Source: Hrana
