On Friday, January 10, 2025, a female prisoner named Fatemeh Lotfi set herself on fire in Langarud Prison, Qom, in protest against her prolonged uncertainty and lack of resolution regarding her case. Instead of transferring her to a burn center, prison officials sent her to a psychiatric hospital. After just one day and without receiving any proper treatment, she was returned to prison and confined to solitary confinement.
Fatemeh Lotfi, imprisoned on charges related to drug offenses, suffered severe burns, blisters, and infections after the incident. Nevertheless, the prison staff cruelly moved her to the psychiatric hospital without appropriate medical care. Despite her critical condition, she was brought back to Langarud Prison the next day, shackled hands, and feet, and left in solitary confinement.
In a shocking display of neglect, prison personnel reportedly told her, “Peel off your own blisters,” while depriving her of even basic medication.
The 42-year-old prisoner, in a phone call to her relatives, described her agony in a faint voice weakened by pain:
“My wounds, infections, and burns are so severe that I’m dying from the pain, the burning, and the infections.”
Fatemeh Lotfi is the mother of a young son who is also incarcerated. She was accused of attempting to bring drugs into the prison for her son, a charge she has consistently denied. Her unresolved legal status has kept her in custody for an extended period. On the day of her self-immolation, she used gas in the prison kitchen to carry out the act.
Langarud Prison, where Fatemeh Lotfi is held, houses over 2,500 inmates. Each ward contains only 10 toilets and six showers, with hot water available between 2 PM and 5 PM daily. Outside of these hours, prisoners must endure without hot water.
More than 20 inmates are crammed into each room in overcrowded conditions, yet only 15 beds are available. Those without beds are forced to sleep on the floor.
This tragedy highlights the appalling living conditions and systemic neglect in Iran’s prisons, where even the most basic human rights are denied to inmates. Fatemeh Lotfi’s harrowing ordeal exemplifies the extreme suffering endured by prisoners in Langarud and demands urgent attention to the inhumane treatment and neglect pervasive in such facilities.
