Two wards in Vakil Abad Prison in Mashhad are allocated to prisoners suspected of having coronavirus

In an interview with the Human Rights Campaign in Iran, families of political prisoners in Vakil Abad Prison in Mashhad announced the allocation of two wards in this prison for prisoners suspected of having the coronavirus and the transfer of some political prisoners to this ward. They said that none of the prisoners have been tested for the coronavirus and that a dangerous situation prevails in this prison.

Concerns about the health of political prisoners and their lack of release on bail in these dangerous conditions and the spread of the coronavirus are increasing day by day. Although judicial authorities have claimed to have released 70,000 prisoners on parole in the country, political and prisoners of conscience are still languishing in prisons.

Yesterday, March 10, UN officials, including UN Special Rapporteur Javed Rehman, followed up on these concerns and called on the Iranian government to immediately include political and ideological prisoners in these freedoms.

Hengameh Vahedian Shahroudi, the daughter of Abbas Vahedian Shahroudi, announced her father's transfer to a ward for suspected COVID-19 patients and told the Human Rights Campaign in Iran that more than 30 prisoners suspected of COVID-19 are being held together without any COVID-19 tests being conducted on them and without any health facilities being provided to them.

Abbas Vahedian, 49, is one of the signatories of a statement published in some media outlets in late June 2019 by 14 political and civil activists living in Mashhad and Tehran. In a letter addressed to the Leader of the Islamic Republic, these individuals called for his resignation and a change in the constitution. Part of the letter stated: “It is time for the people, activists, and compassionate thinkers to put aside their expediency tendencies that have led to the destruction of the country’s culture, civilization, and wealth, to step out into the field with all their frankness and demand a fundamental change in the constitution and the resignation of the leader who is unjustly increasing his powers every day, and to be the vanguard of this national movement.”

Hengameh Vahedian Shahroudi, who spoke to her father by phone on Tuesday, March 10, said in an interview with the campaign: “My father was transferred to the prison infirmary five days ago, and while the infirmary doctor said my father should come on sick leave, they transferred him to a ward that holds prisoners suspected of having the coronavirus.”

Abbas Vahedian Shahroudi's daughter told the campaign: "My father called today and is still coughing, his lungs are infected and he is having respiratory attacks. The medical doctor told the prison guard that he should go on sick leave, but the head of the guard told my father that his case is open and no bail has been set for him to go on leave. I went to the judge in my father's case to follow up and said that my father has been in limbo for 7 months. Since he was arrested on August 17, you have neither issued a sentence nor are you granting him leave, and now you have imprisoned him in a ward suspected of having COVID-19. The judge told me that he had read my father's case and had not made a decision yet, and that he could not handle the cases given the current situation."

According to Hengameh Vahedian Shahroudi, prisoners are not tested for COVID-19 in Vakil Abad Prison in Mashhad: “They do not test for COVID-19 in prison. Prisoners who are suspected of having COVID-19 are kept in a ward. A quarantine ward, meaning that when new prisoners arrive, they are kept there for a week and then transferred to other wards, has been emptied and those suspected of having COVID-19 are taken to this ward. There are about thirty people and none of them have been tested for COVID-19, and if one person is infected, they will infect everyone. They have not provided any facilities, not gloves, not masks, or anything else. They have not provided even a simple mask, and we are extremely worried, and the response to our follow-up is threats. When I informed them about the lack of facilities and the lack of hygiene measures in the prison, the head of the General Directorate of Prisons sued me for spreading lies. We really don’t know what to do.”

Kamal Jafari Yazdi, Mohammad Mahdavifar, Javad Lal Mohammadi, Reza Mehregan, Mohammad Hossein Sepehri, Mohammad Nourizad, and Hashem Khaster are other signatories of the statement calling for the resignation of the Leader of the Islamic Republic who are in prison.

At the same time, Asghar Sepehri, Fatemeh Sepehri's brother, announced in an interview with the campaign that a ward in the women's ward of Vakil Abad Prison in Mashhad had been allocated to prisoners suspected of having COVID-19, and expressed concern about his sister's health condition in the prison.

Fatemeh Sepehri is among 14 female activists who issued a statement calling for the resignation of Ayatollah Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, and the drafting of a new constitution.

On August 4, 14 female activists issued a statement titled "The Leader's Resignation and Transition from the Islamic Republic and the Drafting of a New Constitution" and wrote to the people of Iran: "We, 14 civil activists and women's rights activists, are determined to continue our struggle, in a civil and non-violent manner, as the vanguards of the homeland's freedom, by saying "No to the Islamic Republic" until our full demands are achieved."

Fatemeh Sepehri is the only signatory of this statement who is still in prison, and the other detainees have been released on bail. She was arrested on August 10 and sentenced to 6 years in prison by Branch 4 of the Mashhad Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Mansouri.

Asghar Sepehri, Fatemeh Sepehri's brother, said in an interview with the campaign: "Since the coronavirus outbreak, prisoners have not had in-person visits, and we tried very hard through my sister's lawyers, Mr. Aghasi and Mr. Maki, to get her temporarily released. But we didn't get any results. In a call my sister had from prison, she said that their ward had been evacuated and prisoners who were suspected of having coronavirus or had coronavirus had been transferred to this ward, and my sister, along with other prisoners in this ward, had been transferred to another ward that was very crowded and had limited phone calls."

Mr. Sepehri told the campaign that “Corona has reached Vakilabad and we are very worried. The overall health situation in Vakilabad Prison is very bad, and this has added to our concerns. The situation is truly critical and worrying. The appeals court has not yet issued a ruling. Judge Mansouri, who issued my sister’s initial sentence, when we went to him for bail, said, ‘I have only issued the ruling and I have no duty to issue a bail order. Go appeal.’ The appeals judge is also practically taking action. He had said, ‘Bring a document worth one billion and two hundred million Tomans,’ and they have practically decided not to release her.”

Source: Human Rights Campaign