Issa Saharkhiz Remains in Prison Despite Medical Leave Authorization

Mehdi Saharkhiz, son of Issa Saharkhiz, journalist and former National Press Director of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, spoke with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran about his father’s dire physical condition. “My father is in serious need of medical care. His doctor determined that he is unable to tolerate his prison punishment, and prescribed that he must be moved [somewhere] outside the prison. The cardiologist’s letter has been delivered to the Prosecutor but still, nothing has been done for transferring him out of prison,” he said.

Saharkhiz pointed out that the medical costs for treating prisoners is an excuse because if the prison system does not want to pay the costs, prisoner’s families would immediately pay for them. “It seems that they don’t want my father to be transferred outside the prison for treatment. The same kind of things have happened to other prisoners who needed hospitalization, but they have remained in prison. It has now been a month since the Prosecutor agreed with my father’s hospitalization outside the prison, yet he is still in prison,” he added.

Mehdi Saharkhiz pointed out that his father requires MRI tests and special care. “My father’s acute problem at this time is his heart, even though in the past year he developed many other problems, including back pains which kept him from being able to get up for a very long time to the point that he’d come to visitation hour on a wheelchair.”