Transfer of Forough Taghipour to hospital delayed in Evin
Forough Taghipour requires urgent examination by a specialist surgeon and possibly surgery as she suffers from GI problems and hemorrhoids. The Evin prison authorities have prevented the transfer of Forough Taghipour to the hospital as she refused to have her hands and feet tied up. They have left her suffering in this critical condition.
Evin Prison authorities had once before held back the transfer of Forough Taghipour to a hospital on August 30, 2022. Ms. Taghipour had poor physical and GI conditions but disagreed with being handcuffed and shackled. The authorities wasted several hours during which they harassed her and finally prevented her hospital visit by returning her to the ward.
A source with details on the transfer of Forough Taghipour to the hospital said, “Preventing the transfer of Forough Taghipour to hospital contradicts the announcement by the head of the Judiciary. In the wake of the passing of a political prisoner, he said, ‘wearing handcuffs and shackles is not mandatory’ for sick prisoners who need to be visited and treated in a civic hospital.
“Nevertheless, the Evin prison authorities insisted on putting hand and foot cuffs on Forough Taghipour before taking her to a hospital. Since she refused to be chained, the prison authorities wasted time driving the patient around in Evin. Finally, they did not send Ms. Taghipour to the hospital and returned her to the ward.”
The source adds: “Sick political prisoners’ need to be sent to the hospital has become a tool in the hands of the prison authorities and agents to humiliate and torture the prisoners mentally and physically. Moreover, in many cases, they return the sick inmate to prison. Using different excuses such as changing shifts, they leave the patient’s treatment unfinished and return the prisoner without hospitalization.”
The political prisoner Forough Taghipour and several other female political prisoners incarcerated in Evin Prison contracted Covid-19 and were deprived of medical care.
Siblings of Navid Afkari arrested
The @1500tasvir account tweeted about the arrests of three members of the Afkari family on September 13, 2022.
Elham Afkari, her brother, Habib Afkari, and his wife, Fatemeh Namjou, were arrested. Saeed Afkari, another sibling, said, “The security forces have blocked both entrances to my brother’s grave, Navid. They’ve blocked the roads to his grave on his anniversary.”
Even though Elham and Habib Afkari were arrested, others managed to pass the security blockage to hold a ceremony for Navid Afkari on his second anniversary.
Navid Afkari, a wrestling champion in his twenties, was hanged in Adelabad Prison on September 7, 2020, despite international outrage calling to stop his execution.
Last September, on the anniversary of the execution of Navid Afkari, plainclothes agents beat and arrested his brother, Saeed, near Shiraz and took him to an undisclosed location.
Navid’s mother and father were arrested by security forces when visiting their son’s grave on October 29, 2021. The visit coincided with the day of Cyrus the Great. Fifteen were at the scene. They released Navid’s parents after a few hours.