{"id":5075,"date":"2016-07-21T11:03:32","date_gmt":"2016-07-21T16:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/?p=5075"},"modified":"2016-07-21T11:03:32","modified_gmt":"2016-07-21T16:03:32","slug":"iran-jails-withhold-prisoners-medical-care-to-force-confessions-amnesty-international-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/5075\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran jails withhold prisoners’ medical care to force confessions, Amnesty International claims"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Canadian-Iranian scholar Homa Hoodfar has been held incommunicado in Tehran’s Evin prison since June 6. She is now said to be indicted by the Iranian authorities. (Canadian Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New report raises additional concerns for jailed Canadian-Iranian professor Homa Hoodfa<\/strong>r<\/span><\/h3>\n

By: The Canadian Press<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As international concern mounts over the fate of a\u00a0Montreal-based academic jailed in Tehran, an Amnesty International
\nreport claims Iranian authorities regularly put political prisoners’\u00a0lives at risk by denying them medical care.<\/p>\n

The report found that prison staff withhold specialized care and\u00a0medication, refuse medical releases, intentionally disrupt treatment\u00a0and launch reprisals against prisoners who go on hunger strikes.<\/p>\n

The human rights organization concludes “strong evidence” indicates\u00a0care is deliberately withheld in some cases as a means to extract\u00a0“confessions” from political prisoners or to intimidate or punish\u00a0them.<\/p>\n

Since Amnesty International is not allowed to operate in Iran,\u00a0the report is based on \u00a0interviews with lawyers, former prisoners\u00a0and other “well-placed” sources, cross-referenced with medical\u00a0reports when possible.<\/p>\n

Alex Neve, secretary general of Amnesty International Canada,\u00a0described the report’s conclusions as “deeply troubling.”<\/p>\n

It reveals “the degree to which Iranian authorities use health\u00a0care as a tool of repression, as a way to punish prisoners, as a way\u00a0to force prisoners to confess, and simply as a way to further the\u00a0repressive tactics that are the calling card of the Iranian\u00a0government,” he told The Canadian Press.<\/p>\n

New worries for\u00a0Homa Hoodfar<\/span><\/h2>\n

Although the report does not specifically mention jailed\u00a0Canadian-Iranian professor Homa Hoodfar, Neve said it nevertheless\u00a0raises concerns given the 65-year-old’s poor state of health.<\/p>\n

He said the retired Concordia University anthropology professor\u00a0suffers from a neurological illness and had a mild stroke last year.<\/p>\n

“Because the family has been denied access to her, as has her\u00a0lawyer, we have no idea if she is receiving the medication she so\u00a0desperately needs,” he said.<\/p>\n

One of\u00a0Hoodfar’s\u00a0former students said she and\u00a0Hoodfar’s\u00a0friends\u00a0and family are “very, very concerned about her health.”<\/p>\n

Mona\u00a0Tajali\u00a0said her former professor suffers from a\u00a0neuromuscular disease that causes severe muscle fatigue and requires\u00a0daily medication.<\/p>\n

“I’m just so worried that because this disease is not very\u00a0well-known, those who have imprisoned her might think it’s being\u00a0made up or not a very serious condition, when in fact is is a very\u00a0serious condition,” she said.<\/p>\n

Hoodfar\u00a0has conducted research on Muslim women in various regions\u00a0of the world.<\/p>\n

She was first arrested in March after travelling to Iran to visit\u00a0her family and conduct academic research.<\/p>\n

Hoodfar\u00a0was released on bail but\u00a0rearrested\u00a0in June.<\/p>\n

Iran’s semi-official\u00a0ISNA\u00a0and\u00a0Tasnim\u00a0news agencies have reported\u00a0Hoodfar\u00a0has been indicted on charges, but the family and federal\u00a0officials say they haven’t been able to corroborate that\u00a0information.<\/p>\n

Prisoners face range of violations<\/span><\/h2>\n

At least nine of the 18 prisoners whose cases are listed in the\u00a0report are being held in the same notorious prison\u00a0where\u00a0Hoodfar\u00a0has\u00a0been kept since she was arrested in June on unnamed charges.<\/p>\n

Others at Evin prison reported a range of violations that include\u00a0being denied medications or tests, being returned to jail against\u00a0medical advice and having their health concerns dismissed by\u00a0doctors.<\/p>\n

One man was reportedly forced to return to his cell 24 hours\u00a0after cancer surgery.<\/p>\n

A female prisoner, Narges Mohammadi,\u00a0reported being handcuffed and tied to a bed during routine medical\u00a0tests.<\/p>\n

Hossein Rafiee, a 71-year-old former university professor whose\u00a0daughter is a Canadian permanent resident, is being kept in a\u00a0section of the jail the report describes as “severely overcrowded,\u00a0poorly ventilated, infested with insects and does not have enough\u00a0beds and toilets.”<\/p>\n

Rafiee’s family reported he is not getting regular medical\u00a0check-ups, raising concerns he is not receiving the right dose of\u00a0medication for his high blood pressure and heart condition.<\/p>\n

Women prisoners especially at risk<\/span><\/h2>\n

The report found that women at Evin prison face additional\u00a0barriers to getting access to care because medical staff at the\u00a0facility are nearly all men.<\/p>\n

“On several occasions women prisoners who experienced health\u00a0problems were denied emergency medical tests or other treatment\u00a0because it was deemed inappropriate for them to be treated by male\u00a0medical staff,” the report read.<\/p>\n

Woman were also reportedly subjected to “sexual slurs and\u00a0harassment” for failing to comply with strict veiling regulations.<\/p>\n

Iranian officials did not respond to Amnesty’s attempts to\u00a0contact them, but have reportedly used local media to deny
\nmistreating prisoners.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New report raises additional concerns for jailed Canadian-Iranian professor Homa Hoodfar By: The Canadian Press As international concern mounts over the fate of a\u00a0Montreal-based academic […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4928,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-human-rights","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5075"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5076,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5075\/revisions\/5076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}