Iran News ( Blogger beaten and tortured in prison- denied medical attention )

March 2013

Prison officials continue to block ailing blogger Pourshajari from receiving medical aid

Keywords : Political Prisoners

Committee of Human Rights Reporters - Imprisoned blogger Pourshajari who is in serious need of medical care, continues to be deprived of medical furlough. His daughter said to Kaleme: “They lied to my father and told him to get ready to be taken to a doctor, but instead they transferred him to Ghazal Hesar prison. The physicians have advised that he must undergo surgery yet the prison officials say they will not allow him to leave even for one hour.”

As reported earlier by CHRR, three physicians at the prison facility by the names of Amjadi, Nejadbahram and Gholizadeh made requests for this political prisoner to be transferred to a medical facility outside the prison. They revealed that the prisoner has blocked arteries, which could result in cardiac arrest and his sudden death.

Mitra Pourshajari, daughter of this blogger in Ghezel Hesar prison said to Kaleme: “When I asked the prison official why he refuses to sign off father’s release papers when he is so sick, he responded that he would not put himself in any danger and would not even grant a one hour furlough. I asked why. He said with the crimes that he committed, your father is a danger to the nation. We are not going to jeopardize ourselves with this type of dossier. If the judiciary wanted to grant furlough they would have done so themselves instead of sending the file to us.”

Mohammad Reza Pourshajari is a 53-year-old political prisoner and blogger who wrote under the pen name Siamak Mehr. On September 12, 2010 he was detained at his home in Karaj and transferred to the Security Ward of the IRGC in Rajai Shahr prison. He was eventually tried in Branch 109 of the Karaj Revolutionary Court presided by Judge Gholam Sarabi who handed him a 4-year prison sentence. He endured 7 months in solitary confinement during his “temporary detention” and was subjected to brutal psychological and physical torture. He was beaten with electric rods, and tortured with mock executions prompting him to attempt suicide by cutting his wrists with his glasses, leaving scars.

After spending close to a year at Rajai Shahr, he was inflicted with several illnesses that required him to undergo medical care under supervision outside of prison. But rather than provide him with the necessary medical care, the prison authorities transferred him to his present location at Ghezel Hesar prison, a substandard facility that is reserved for dangerous criminals.

Mohammad Reza Pourshajari has compared the conditions in the prison to an unkempt zoo. His daughter said to Kaleme: “With the price hike that has hit the country for all goods, the same has happened inside prisons. The price for necessary merchandise sold in prisons is a few times higher than it was before. Most prisoners can no longer afford cleaning products to keep their cells clean and this has caused sanitary issues. Warm water and showers are provided only a few hours a week.

Even though my father was already sick, the substandard conditions of this facility, the extreme dirtiness, no peace of mind has worsened my father’s physical condition to a very worrisome level. The physicians who had earlier tested him recommended that he receive surgery but the prison doctors have not even prescribed some medication to give him some temporary relief. My father is held in an uncertain situation while his health is deteriorating day by day.”

In a letter provided to CHRR in February, Mohammad Reza Pourshajari wrote from prison:

I Mohammad Reza Pourshajari, aka Siyamak Mehr, blogger for the blog “Gozareshe Khake Iran,” hereby request from honorable lawmakers and attorneys, to accept my gratitude for their efforts if circumstances permit to represent me in court. I give them my power of attorney to lodge a lawsuit on my behalf against the Islamic Republic of Iran and the judiciary of this regime in any suitable court of law in the United States, for my illegal arrest and severe torture, my 4-year prison sentence on baseless and ridiculous charges such as “propaganda against the regime,” and “insult” to an absurd concept called “Supreme Leader.”

The lawsuit is to condemn the opinions issued in the Islamic courts and to demand compensation from Iranian officials for my emotional duress and physical complications along with the losses endured during my prison term. In hopes that this action will condemn the oppressive regime of Iran and encourage other Iranians sentenced in the courts of the oppressive Islamic regime and victims of clergy crimes to also step forward and in this manner of lodging complaints in the courts of the United States of America, make a loud case that can be heard in the rest of the world.