Rajai Shahr Prison, Karaj; Farhad Fahandezh transferred to solitary confinement under the pretext of positive coronavirus test
Farhad Fahandezh, a 61-year-old Baha'i citizen prisoner, was transferred to a solitary confinement cell in the secure ward of Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj on Thursday, October 1, under the pretext of testing positive for COVID-19. Mr. Fahandezh, who is serving the eighth year of his ten-year sentence, suffers from digestive diseases and also suffers from heart disease. This, along with his infection with the coronavirus, has increased the concerns of Mr. Fahandezh's relatives about his health. HRANA previously reported that 45 Sunni prisoners in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj had contracted the virus and warned of the possibility of the spread of the coronavirus among prisoners in this prison, saying that political prisoners in this prison and 75 prisoners in Hall 12 are at risk of contracting the coronavirus.
According to HRANA News Agency, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, today, Thursday, October 1, 2020, Farhad Fahandezh, a Baha'i citizen imprisoned in the sub-security hall 10 of Ward 4 of Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj, was transferred to one of the solitary cells of the secure ward of this prison under the pretext of testing positive for COVID-19.
Mr. Fahandezh suffers from digestive diseases and heart disease. This, along with his infection with the coronavirus, has increased concerns among Mr. Fahandezh's relatives about his health.
A number of other political prisoners, including Arash Sadeghi, who suffers from a malignant form of bone cancer called chondrosarcoma, and Afshin Baymani and Abolghasem Foladvand, who suffer from heart disease, are serving their sentences in this prison; this will put their lives at greater risk than others if they contract the coronavirus.
HRANA previously reported that 45 Sunni prisoners in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj had contracted the virus, and warned of the possibility of the spread of coronavirus among prisoners in this prison, saying that political prisoners in this prison and 75 prisoners in Hall 12 were at risk of contracting the coronavirus.
Amnesty International recently announced that it had seen copies of four letters written by officials from the Prisons Organization, which operates under the judiciary, to the Ministry of Health, raising the alarm about severe shortages of personal protective equipment, disinfectants, and key medical equipment and supplies. The Ministry of Health has left these requests unanswered, and Iran’s prisons continue to be catastrophically short of essential equipment to combat the spread of infectious diseases.
This is while Asghar Jahangir, the head of the Prisons Organization, claimed in April this year regarding the protection of prisoners' health that "Iran should be recognized as the pioneer in protecting prisoners' rights in the world."
In August of this year, HRANA, in a report titled "Corona Crisis; A Comprehensive Report on the Situation of Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj and the Latest List of Political Prisoners," addressed the situation of political and security prisoners in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj and warned of the possibility of the spread of coronavirus among prisoners incarcerated in this prison.
Farhad Fahandezh is a Baha'i citizen born in 1955 in Torbat Heydariyeh County. He was arrested by security agents at his home in Gorgan on October 16, 2012, and after seven months of indecision, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Mohammad Moghiseh, on charges of "propagating the Baha'i Faith and managing Baha'i organizations."
This Baha'i citizen was also arrested in 1983 (at the age of 24) and sentenced to 6 years in prison. He suffers from digestive diseases due to the poor conditions of his previous prison.
Source: HRANA
