Unconscious Mahmoud Salehi Taken to Hospital
According to reports by the Committee in Defence of Mahmoud Salehi in Iran, on December 4, 2007, the authorities of the Central Prison of Sanandaj decided to move 20-30 prisoners from section 7 to section 2. Section 2 is an isolated section. Any contact among cell-mates is prohibited. The open walking area and bathrooms are carefully separated, food quality is terrible and some prisoners have no bed to sleep in. Section 2 is firmly controlled and has minimum facilities.
Prisoners were given very little time to wrap their belongings and leave. They were repeatedly beaten for delays. Amongst them was Mahmoud Salehi. Due to his poor health condition, it took him longer to gather his personal items. He was insulted and threatened to death by one of the guards in charge. This guard, Ghasem Rahmani, had previously threatened Mahmoud to death with very harsh and insulting language. This time he came to section 2 and told prisoners that killing Salehi is an easy thing for him. As a result, Mahmoud’s physical and emotional health worsened. His blood pressure rose dramatically and he had to be taken to Tohid Hospital in Sanandaj. In the hospital, he was locked to his bed and was injected tranquilizer to bring his blood pressure down to normal. Because of numerous injections in the past few months, his arms were terribly bruised and they had to carry on with injections to his legs, which has bruised as well. Because of all these bruises, the doctor treated Mahmoud as if he was a drug addict! Mahmood had to explain to the doctor that he is a political prisoner; nevertheless the doctor insisted that he was treating an addicted person! Mahmoud Salehi is very upset and exasperated by such inhumane and humiliating circumstances.
On Tuesday, December 11, 2007, Mahmoud Salehi was taken to Tohid Hospital in Sanandaj again. He was unconscious! Mahmoud’s blood pressure is very unstable. This past week, he fainted four times! He has grave intestinal edema, his intestines are hardly functioning! He was taken to the Neurology Department of Tohid Hospital where he has had a CT scan and will go through repetitive blood tests. It is reported that vessels in his brain has been damaged.
Meanwhile, to protest the grave conditions in Section 2, Hamid Kosarnia, one of the prisoners in Sanandaj’s Central Prison, who has conditional release but is not being let go by jail officials, has gone on a hunger strike for the past 9 days. Reports say that Mr. Kosarnia’s health has been deteriorated dramatically. About 22 other prisoners have joined Mr. Kosarnia protesting the cruelty and wickedness of guards, physical assaults, bad food and lack of medical attention.
Mahmoud Salehi’s health is at severe risk. He is suffering enormously. The death threats by the prison guards against Salehi cannot be ignored either. There are increasing demands for Salehi’s immediate release by his family, colleagues and other labour activists. His lawyer, Mr. Sharif, ha also expressed outrage at this situation. Salehi must be freed and diagnosed and properly treated immediately in a hospital with proper facilities.
For more information, contact [email protected] or [email protected].
Background Information: www.workers-iran.org