March 12, 2025

Iranian Authorities Are Killing Prisoners by Denying Lifesaving Medical Care

At Least Four Prisoners Dead in Just Two Months

CHRI Speaks to Cellmate of Political Prisoner Who Died Due to Medical Neglect

March 12, 2025 — At least four prisoners have died in Iranian prisons in just the first two months of 2025 due to the deliberate denial of critical medical care by Iranian prison authorities—a practice that is routine in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said today.

The deaths of these four prisoners due to severe medical neglect in Iranian prisons —Anwar Chaleshi, Hassan Damani, Bahram Darvishi, and Farzaneh Bijanipour—represent only the tip of the iceberg. Actual numbers are certainly far higher, as many prisoner deaths resulting from the denial of medical care go unreported; a lack of transparency allows prison officials to falsely report the causes of the death, and families, even when highly suspicious, often remain silent out of fear of retaliation by the state.

“Deaths in Iranian prisons are not isolated incidents—they are the result of a deliberate state policy that seeks to punish political prisoners through medical neglect, and it amounts to murder,” said Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director of CHRI.

“The rampant impunity in Iran’s prison system allows the authorities to effectively kill inmates without consequences, and this will only persist unless there is significant international pressure on the Iranian authorities to cease this criminal practice,” said Ghaemi.

The practice, which is particularly targeted at political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, and prisoners who are members of Iran’s ethnic and religious minority communities, is tantamount to torture and arbitrary killing, according to the UN.

CHRI urges governments worldwide, the UN, international medical associations, and human rights organizations to demand that Iranian authorities immediately provide comprehensive and appropriate medical care to all prisoners in need, including treatment at external healthcare facilities whenever necessary to ensure prisoners receive the medical attention they need.

Political Prisoner Dies of Cancer After Years of Blatant Medical Neglect

Anwar Chaleshi, a 50-year-old Kurdish political prisoner and father of four from Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan, died on February 19, 2025, from complications related to untreated colon cancer after enduring years of medical neglect in Iran’s prison system.

According to an informed source interviewed by CHRI, forensic medical authorities determined last year that Chaleshi was unfit to continue serving his sentence due to his deteriorating health. Under Iranian law, this should have resulted in his release. However, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) opposed his release, and he remained imprisoned. Ultimately, after his pardon request was finally approved, he was released, but it was too late for effective treatment.

Chaleshi was arrested by the IRGC Intelligence Organization on December 2, 2020, in Orumiyeh and was taken to the Al-Mahdi military base detention facility. In January 2021, he was transferred to Orumiyeh Central Prison. On October 9, 2021, Branch One of the Orumiyeh Islamic Revolutionary Court sentenced Chaleshi to seven years in prison for “acting against national security” due to alleged membership in the banned Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI).

In May 2024, Chaleshi was transferred to Khomeini Hospital in Orumiyeh, and despite his critical condition, he remained handcuffed and shackled as the IRGC Intelligence Organization blocked his medical furlough, preventing proper treatment.

“The judge denied the medical request and sent him back to prison.”

In an interview with CHRI, a former cellmate of Chaleshi detailed the prison authorities’ deliberate denial of medical care for Chaleshi, ultimately leading to his death. He told CHRI:

“In the past few years, Anwar Chaleshi’s condition deteriorated significantly due to the progression of his illness [colon cancer]. Political prisoners repeatedly protested his medical neglect through hunger strikes. Some of them were even sent to solitary confinement for their protests.

“Over the past two years, his illness caused severe weight loss and frequent fainting. When his condition became critical and impossible to ignore, prison officials would take him to the prison infirmary, give him only basic painkillers, and then return him to his cell. Whenever, under pressure from inmates, he was transferred to a hospital, the Intelligence Organization of the IRGC blocked his treatment, claiming lack of funds, and sent him back to prison without completing any medical procedures.

“Anwar was in a dire financial situation. He had four children—the eldest, a 25-year-old daughter, and the youngest, a 5-year-old son. His family lived in a village in extreme poverty. While he was in prison, they struggled to cover basic living expenses, let alone his medical costs.

“In one instance, Chaleshi was transferred to Khomeini Hospital in Urmia due to his deteriorating health. However, due to the [IRGC] Intelligence Organization’s refusal to grant him medical leave and his family’s inability to afford treatment, he spent long hours in the hospital shackled with handcuffs and leg irons before being sent back to prison without receiving proper care.

“Anwar was diagnosed with colon cancer while in prison, and as his condition worsened, his health became increasingly concerning. About a year ago, despite the forensic medical authority’s opinion that he was unfit to continue serving his sentence, security agencies blocked his conditional release and medical furlough.

“In recent months, his condition became critical. His cancer had advanced dramatically. At that point, prison officials decided to release him—but it was too late for effective treatment or surgery. His health was so poor that they probably thought it was better to let him go before he died in prison and caused them trouble.

“Anwar was a compassionate and rational man who wouldn’t even harm an ant. He cared deeply for all the inmates. Despite his suffering, he always tried to appear strong when his family visited him, although seeing their difficult situation only worsened his emotional distress.

“I witnessed the painful and gradual death of an innocent prisoner who had endured immense suffering—perhaps the cruelest kind of death. The agony of disease inside prison, combined with the harsh reality of his family’s struggles outside, without being able to do anything for them, was unbearable.

“In early July 2024, when Anwar was transferred from prison to Khomeini Hospital in Urmia, he requested to stay for five days to begin treatment and undergo surgery. However, the presiding judge denied the request and sent him back to prison without any proper medical intervention. If the surgery had been performed at that time, Anwar’s chances of survival would have been much higher.”

Denial of Medical Care for Prisoners Is Routine Practice in Iran

The intentional denial of critically needed medical care to prisoners—especially political prisoners and prisoners of conscience—is a long-standing practice in Iran.

In August 2024, CHRI published a list of 34 political prisoners in Iran who were systematically denied access to proper medical services, which included the denial of access to prescribed treatments and medicines and the refusal to provide medically required transfers to hospitals for treatment outside the prisons.

Iranian judicial authorities and Iran’s State Prisons Organization play a direct role in depriving political prisoners of the right to access treatment. Despite being fully aware of prisoners’ illnesses, the authorities knowingly deprive political prisoners of needed medicines and treatments, and the families of prisoners are either kept in the dark regarding the deteriorating health of the prisoners or ignored when they plead for treatment.

None of the relevant authorities in Iran have been held accountable for deliberately depriving prisoners of access to medical services, even when it has clearly resulted in death, and no independent oversight body inside the country, or any governmental organization, has documented the health conditions inside Iran’s prisons.

Based on consistently documented evidence, the Islamic Republic’s systematic deprivation of the right to treatment is politically motivated; these restrictions are part of a concerted state campaign of retribution against peaceful activists, prisoners of conscience, political opponents, and members of oppressed minority communities.

Violations of Iranian and International Law

Iran systematically ignores its own laws and international obligations for medical access and treatment to prisoners, particularly political prisoners.

Top UN experts and international human rights organizations have expressed grave concerns over Iran’s denial of medical care to prisoners, which violates the UN’s Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and has led to the deaths of numerous prisoners. The World Medical Association has also emphasized that withholding medical care from prisoners constitutes torture.

Iran’s own State Prison Organization Regulations forbid the denial of medical care, stating that “Examination, and when necessary, treatment of sick convicts is the responsibility of the prison or training facility” and requires the “constant monitoring of prisoners for any illness” and the participation of the prisoner’s family in the treatment process.

According to Article 502 of Iran’s Criminal Procedure Code, if the prisoner’s condition necessitates it, the judicial authorities must order the transfer of the prisoner to a suitable medical facility outside the prison for treatment, and a prisoner’s sentence can be suspended if incarceration will make their illness worse. Article 29 of the Iranian Constitution declares medical care and treatment to be “universal rights.”

In addition, Article 295 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code emphasizes that the failure to fulfill a duty of care, if it leads to someone’s death, constitutes a crime, whether it be intentional or unintentional.

Iran’s refusal to provide adequate medical care also violates international law. As a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Iran is obligated to prevent cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment and uphold the right to life.

All of these requirements are systematically and routinely ignored by the Iranian authorities, particularly in the case of political prisoners, leading to the deaths of numerous prisoners.

In an August 2024 statement, multiple UN experts pointed to a “pattern of ill-treatment of Iranian detainees, including lack of access to adequate medical treatment,” noting that “such deprivations may amount to torture and inhuman treatment, which is an absolute right not liable to exceptions and derogations, and a jus cogens norm of international human rights law.”

“The Iranian government’s deliberate denial of medical care to prisoners is a blatant violation of its own laws and a stark breach of its international human rights obligations. Every life lost in custody due to neglect is a tragedy that exposes the lawlessness and cruelty of the Islamic Republic,” Ghaemi said.

Prisoner Deaths Due to Medical Neglect and Abuse

The following are cases of deaths due to the denial of medical care in Iran’s prisons. Please note that prisoner deaths resulting from state abuse and neglect are often not reported, and the cases provided below represent only a small fraction of the actual fatalities in custody.

2025:

February 19 – Anwar Chaleshi, 50, a Kurdish political prisoner, died of colon cancer after years of inadequate medical care in Orumiyeh Prison.
February 12 – Hassan Damani, 28, died in Lajevardi Prison after his complaints of severe illness were repeatedly dismissed, and he was denied proper treatment.
February 10 – Bahram Darvishi, 31, died in Lakan Prison after being denied medical treatment.
January 11 – Farzaneh Bijanipour died in Qarchak Prison after her complaints of severe illness were repeatedly dismissed, and she was denied proper treatment.

2024:

November 16 – Ghafar Akbari died in Malekan after he was denied treatment for injuries sustained during three weeks of torture in a Ministry of Intelligence detention center.
October 17 – Nourali Kouhkan, 40, died from lack of medical attention in Zabol Prison.
October 3 – Mahmoud Dehmardeh, 41, died from a heart attack in Zabol Prison after repeated denials of medical care.
July 1 – Four prisoners died, and 15 others were sent to a hospital in Sheiban Prison, Ahvaz. Reports suggest that the wrong drugs were administered to the victims, which led to poisoning.

2023:

December 11 – Mahmoud Rakhshani, 19, died from untreated severe injuries sustained under torture by the IRGC Intelligence Organization.
November 23 – Arian Ghorbanishenas, 18, died after an untreated and severe head injury sustained following his arrest.
September 23 – Faramarz Javidzad, 63, a Jewish Iranian-American citizen, died from an untreated stomach ulcer and stomach bleeding for which he was denied medical attention.
August 31 – Javad Roohi, 33, died after severe and untreated injuries he sustained during torture in state custody in Nowshahr Central Prison.
March 5 – Ameneh Ahmadi died from lack of medical treatment in the Sanandaj Correctional Center.