Athena Daemi; Returned from the operating room for refusing to wear handcuffs and restraints

Today, Atena Daemi, a civil activist imprisoned in Evin Prison, was transferred to Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran for gallbladder surgery, as previously scheduled. Despite previous agreements, prison officials intended to handcuff and shackle the sick prisoner, but she resisted. Ms. Daemi, who was on the surgery bed, refused to be handcuffed and shackled, leading to the cancellation of the surgery and her return to prison.

According to HRANA, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, after a long period of sabotage by the Evin Prison medical services, Ms. Daemi received permission to be sent to the hospital for surgery to remove her gallbladder.

Ms. Daemi had an appointment for gallbladder surgery this morning at Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran, and was therefore sent from prison to the hospital.

One of Ms. Daemi's relatives explained to HRANA's reporter about this, "After a long wait due to the sabotage of Evin Hospital, which had caused the deterioration and progression of her illness, Athena was finally sent to Imam Khomeini Hospital for surgery with a prior appointment. She had already announced to the prison that, as a matter of human dignity, she would refuse to wear handcuffs and shackles, considering that wearing them violates the physical and mental conditions necessary for treatment."

The informed source continued his explanation, adding, “While Atena was in the process of being hospitalized and preparing for surgery, the accompanying officials told her that she had to wear handcuffs and a restraint by order of the prison director, which Atena resisted and opposed. In such a situation, the prison staff who were with Atena in the hospital decided to cancel the surgery and return her to prison. Atena was returned to prison around noon today and, despite her poor physical condition, is currently in the women’s ward of the prison.”

It is necessary to explain that the follow-up of Ms. Daemi’s relatives with the relevant authorities did not lead to any specific results because the judge supervising the prison considered the order to handcuff and shackle her unrelated to his area of ​​work and held the responsibility for it to be on “Chaharmahali,” the head of Evin Prison. On the other hand, Mr. Bakhtiari claims that the handcuffing and shackles of this prisoner of conscience while she was on her way to the operating room was due to the laws governing the prison and was not his order, and that an order from the prosecutor’s office was required to cancel it. An explanation that the prosecutor’s office, of course, does not consider correct.

Atena Daemi is currently in an uncertain situation in Evin Prison, while the doctor says that the delay in her gallbladder surgery will cause her disease to progress. On the one hand, she insists on her human and legal rights, and on the other hand, the prison warden, who had previously delayed the prisoner's medical treatment by interfering with the Evin Hospital, is unwilling to accept the humane demands of the imprisoned human rights activist.

It should be noted that in May of this year, at the end of Atena Daemi’s hunger strike, a specialist doctor at a medical center outside Evin Prison visited the prisoner and ordered her hospitalization due to bile problems. However, due to the intervention of the Evin Prison medical department and the person in charge of this medical department, “Abbas Khani,” who accused Ms. Daemi of drugging, she was returned to prison and was unable to receive the necessary medical services.

The problems, which were initially at the level of “the beginning of gallbladder sedimentation and primary kidney infection,” worsened as Evin Prison Hospital prevented the prisoner from being sent to advanced medical centers. During this time, Ms. Daemi suffered from constant nausea, had a fever, and vomited bile.

Abbas Khani, the head of Evin Hospital, claimed that because Ms. Daemi's family and herself are trying to prepare a medical file, he is opposed to sending her to medical centers outside the prison, except for those that he himself deems appropriate.

Finally, Abbas Khani ordered Ms. Daemi to be sent to Imam Khomeini Hospital. There, Ms. Daemi underwent further tests, including an ultrasound, and was sent to prison.

The head of Evin Hospital sent these results to the prosecutor's representative, Mr. Haji Moradi, along with a note stating that Ms. Daemi had no medical problems based on the results of the tests at Imam Khomeini Hospital.

On this basis, he accused Ms. Daemi of incest and has used his previous argument with this protesting prisoner as an insult to prison officials in a legal case against Ms. Daemi.

While Abbas Khani claimed that the results from his trusted hospital, Imam Khomeini Hospital, indicated that there was no medical problem, Daemi's family provided a copy of the results to other doctors, who surprisingly said that, contrary to what the Evin Hospital official had said, the test results indicated a bladder full of stones and an advanced kidney infection for the prisoner, requiring immediate hospitalization.

According to conflicting statements from doctors and the head of Evin Hospital, Haji Moradi, the prosecutor's representative, provided the results of the tests to the forensic medicine and questioned them about the matter.

Forensic experts also rejected the claims of the Evin Hospital official, considering the results of the tests at Imam Khomeini Hospital to confirm Ms. Daemi's poor medical condition and considered it likely that her gallbladder was removed.

Evin Hospital's approach to preventing Ms. Daemi's treatment was not based solely on the reading of the tests, but rather on the misdiagnosis of giving Ms. Daemi strong antibiotics related to women's health, even though the infection was recorded in Ms. Daemi's kidney.

It should be noted that Abbas Khani, the head of Evin Prison's health department, whose insistence on misinterpreting the results of medical tests led nowhere, claimed in another attempt in a letter to the prosecutor's representative, "When Ms. Daemi's gallbladder bursts due to the accumulation of stones, we will send her for surgery, otherwise there is no need to send her for surgery."

His claim comes despite the fact that during the diagnosis in May of this year, the visiting doctor believed that the stones could be removed with a laser due to the manageable level of biliary disorder. However, now not only are the doctors not confident in this method, but they also state that if they are forced to perform surgery for many reasons, it will be a surgery with a risk of infection.

Clearly, the progression of this disease and its increased risk of death are the result of Evin Prison's medical procedures and the head of the medical facility.

All of the above cases come at a time when Abbas Khani, the head of Evin Prison, has filed a case against Ms. Daemi for “insult.” The root of this case is an argument between Atena Daemi and Mr. Khani, who accused her of sexual harassment.

It is worth noting that Abbas Khani, the head of Evin Prison's health department, has also filed a similar case against Maryam Naghash Zargaran, another former prisoner of conscience, citing similar reasons.

Atena (Fatima) Daemi, 29, was previously arrested on October 19, 2014, and was interrogated for 86 days in solitary confinement in Ward 2A. She was transferred to the women's ward of Evin Prison on January 18, 2014, after the interrogations ended.