Political prisoner Elaheh Fouladi, 47, faces escalating pressure and a new campaign by security forces in Qarchak Prison to be transferred to a psychiatric hospital.
Prison authorities recently transferred Elaheh Fouladi in handcuffs and shackles to a hospital, where an order was issued for her compulsory admission to a psychiatric facility, an act that constitutes clear psychological torture and an attempt to crush the spirit of political prisoners.
The transfer, carried out with violence by Qarchak prison guards, has sharply heightened concerns over Fouladi’s fate. In Iran, the forced transfer of political prisoners to psychiatric institutions often entails the administration of unidentified medications and coercive treatments, leaving irreversible damage to their physical and mental health.
Fouladi had previously been subjected to unlawful pressure during her initial detention in the city of Khalkhal, where, according to relatives, intelligence agents injected her with unidentified substances. The renewed threat of such measures now raises serious concerns once again about her safety and well-being.
Despite suffering from a heart condition and requiring urgent specialist care, judicial authorities have not only obstructed her access to proper treatment but have also intensified her plight by ordering her forced transfer to a psychiatric hospital.
Who is Elaheh Fouladi?
Born in 1978 in Khalkhal, Elaheh Fouladi is married and the mother of one child. She was a senior university student when she was arrested alongside her husband, Sattar Babaei, at an airport on January 23, 2020, and transferred to Evin Prison. After several months of interrogation, she was released on bail in August 2020.
Later, the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced her to eight years in prison on charges of “collusion and conspiracy through connections with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI)” and “propaganda against the state.”
