Prison officials prevent Zahra Safaei from being sent to the hospital using excuses
HRANA News Agency – On Tuesday, April 13, political prisoner Zahra Safaei was denied transportation to the hospital despite a previous appointment due to her opposition to being transported in handcuffs and shackles. This is despite the fact that the recent circular of the Prisons Organization regarding the rights of prisoners and detainees explicitly prohibits the use of shackles except for those accused of violent crimes.
According to HRANA News Agency, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, on Tuesday, April 13, 1401, political prisoner Zahra Safaei was denied from being sent to the hospital despite a previous appointment due to her opposition to being transferred in handcuffs and shackles.
Ms. Safaei has been sent to the hospital several times since September of last year due to a heart condition and has undergone angioplasty. The authorities' excuses to prevent her from being sent were made despite her serious medical needs.
This is despite the fact that the recent circular from the Prisons Organization regarding the rights of prisoners and detainees explicitly prohibits the use of handcuffs except for those accused of violent crimes.
HRANA had previously reported in a report that the rights of imprisoned women were being violated, despite the issuance of a circular.
Zahra Safaei and her daughter Parastu Moeini were arrested by security forces in Tehran on March 25, 2019, and transferred to the Ministry of Intelligence detention center known as Ward 209 of Evin Prison. Ms. Safaei and her daughter were deported from Evin Prison to Qarchak Varamin Prison in late April 2019 after the interrogations ended. She was previously released from Qarchak Varamin Prison on July 25, 2019, after posting a bail of 300 million Tomans temporarily and until the end of the trial. On August 25, after appearing at the Evin Prosecutor's Office, her bail was increased tenfold (three billion Tomans), and as a result, she was arrested and transferred to Qarchak Varamin Prison on Monday, August 26.
Ms. Safaei was finally sentenced on February 23, 2020, by Branch 23 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Mohammad Mehdi Shahmirzadi, to five years in prison for the charge of “gathering and colluding with the intention of acting against the security of the country,” one year in prison for the charge of “propaganda against the system,” and two years in prison for the charge of “insulting the leader and founder of the Islamic Republic.” She was also sentenced to a ban on leaving the country and a ban on membership in political or social parties, groups, and factions.
Zahra Safaei has a history of arrest and imprisonment. She was arrested in 2006 and released shortly after. She also spent time in prison as a political activist in the 1960s. Ms. Safaei's father, known as "Haji Safaei," was a prominent Tehran bazaar owner who was executed in 2016 on charges of supporting the People's Mojahedin Organization.
Source: HRANA
