Political Prisoner Hospitalized After Heart Condition

Prisoner of conscience Abdolfazl Ghadyani was transferred to the hospital after suffering a heart attack. Ghadyani’s wife, Marzieh Rahimi, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that it took prison authorities six days to transfer him to a different hospital as per her request.

On 8 February 2012, Ghadyani, 66, was hospitalized after he suffered from a heart condition. As soon as she learned of her husband’s condition,  she tried to facilitate his transfer to the hospital. “Mr. Ghadyani’s cellmates called us on the morning of 8 February to inform us that he had suffered a heart condition and was transferred to the hospital.  I called the offices of the Chief Warden and his Deputy, but none of them gave us a response and they said I should call the prison infirmary, but there was no response.  We had to call all Tehran hospitals to finally find out that he had been transferred to Modarres Hospital,” Rahimi told the Campaign. “But Mr. Ghadyani had been treated at another hospital for his heart condition before … so I went to the Prosecutor’s Office and asked them to transfer him to that hospital … but unfortunately, it took them six days to transfer him.”

On 9 January 2010, authorities arrested Abolfazl Ghadyani, and he was sentenced to one year in prison for “insulting the President” and three years for “insulting the Supreme Leader.” Ghadyani is now facing a new charge after he wrote an open letter to the Supreme Leader, criticizing him. He refused to attend his earlier two trials because they were held without a jury and in closed sessions.

Rahimi told the Campaign that her hospital visits with her husband have been difficult. “At Modarres Hospital, particularly, there were too many [security] forces present and we once had an argument with them, too. In this hospital, three agents watch him. Our visits last a few minutes and are held in a stressful atmosphere. None of us can speak freely. I went to the Prosecutor’s

Office and requested permission to have our visits in a more peaceful atmosphere. I was only able to visit my husband for five minutes today.”