Prisoner of conscience Raheleh Ahmadi suffers from poor health due to nervous stress on Saturday, July 17, 2021, which aggravated pain caused by a lumbar disc.
Raheleh Ahmadi, detained in the women’s ward of Evin Prison in Tehran, was not allowed to visit her ailing mother in her last days of life. The Evin Prison authorities did not even grant a short leave to Mrs. Ahmadi to attend her mother’s funeral after she passed away.
As a result, Mrs. Raheleh Ahmadi, who was already in poor health conditions, suffered nervous stress today in Evin Prison, which aggravated her lumbar disc pain. She is not able to walk without assistance.
Raheleh Ahmadi is sentenced to 31 months in prison and has been incarcerated since February 15, 2020. She was arrested for putting pressure on her daughter, Saba Kord Afshari, for making forced confessions.
She suffers from thyroid malfunctions which affect her immune system, making her more vulnerable to COVID-19.
In the wake of Saba’s exile to Qarchak Prison, Ms. Ahmadi faced medical problems due to stress and suffered a ruptured disc, and needed to use a walker to walk. Nevertheless, she did not receive proper medical treatment.
The prison clinic’s doctor said her immobility was due to nervous pressure, and she needed to be examined by a specialist neural doctor.
On March 14, 2021, she was granted a leave which terminated on April 10. Prison authorities rejected her request for an extension of leave. Due to a rupture of her disc, she needs to have surgery and rest for two months.
Prison authorities in Iran deny medical care to sick prisoners
Depriving political prisoners of medical treatment is a common practice in the clerical regime’s jails.
When a political prisoner needs urgent medical treatment, the authorities of Evin Prison make families and lawyers go through various stages of referring to different officials and agencies. The procedure usually becomes long and without an answer.
The head of the prison’s dispensary and their physicians also have the authority to send a prisoner to the hospital in emergency cases, but they do not do so. Sometimes, the hospitals which have signed contracts with prisons do not provide specialized services. And the prisoner does not receive the specialized treatment they need.
In other cases, when a physician orders hospitalization of a prisoner, the prison’s assistant prosecutor does not allow them to stay.
The lack of cooperation and foot-dragging on the part of prison authorities leads to deterioration of prisoners’ health, and there have been cases when the prisoner has died.
