Political Prisoner’s Health Deteriorates in Prison

A source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that Ali Tari was sentenced to 6 months in prison on 11 October 2011 when he appeared at Mati Kola prison in Babol. In the absence of a security ward inside Mati Kola Prison, Tari was transferred to the prison’s Quarantine Ward. After spending two days next to drug criminals, he was transferred to Ward 2 of Mati Kola prison, where murderers and dangerous criminals are held, and is currently in dire prison conditions.

Tari worked for the Propagation Unit of the Revolutionary Guards in Mazandaran Province during the Iran-Iraq War and was the Deputy Director of the Department of Education in the city of Babolsar. On 3 April 2010 Tari was detained for 90 days by the Babolsar Intelligence Office on the charge of “publishing falsehoods.” The Prosecutor formally charged him in relation with political literature that was dropped nightly into people’s homes in Babolsar. These fliers contained personal details of those who were involved in the attack on students protesting the presidential election on 16 June 2009 at Mazandaran University.

The source told the Campaign that Tari, who was also the Director of Mir Hossein Mousavi’s presidential campaign in Mazandaran, does not have access to basic prison facilities. He doesn’t have a bed in his cell and given the history of his back pain from spending three months in a solitary cell during his detention, combined with his sleeping on the humid floor of the prison, his back pain has worsened.

Tari’s family requested the urgent delivery of his medications and emphasized that in addition to serious back pain, Tari also suffers from heart disease and gastrointestinal problems and the refusal to dispatch his required medication is causing his condition to worsen. Despite the family’s request, prison authorities are still preventing the delivery of his medication.

Tari also served as director of Mohammad Khatami’s election campaign in 2000-2001 in Babolsar. He was sentenced to eighteen months in prison by Branch 101 of the Revolutionary Court inf the city of Babol on charges of “insulting the Supreme Leader” and “insulting sanctities.” This charge was later changed to six months by Branch 1 of the Appeals Court of Mazandaran Province.