Rahim Shamei, a Kurdish civilian who was arrested during last year’s anti-government protests in Mahabad, West Azerbaijan province, is currently in a critical condition due to kidney and nerve problems.

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that the political prisoner has been transferred to an outside hospital in Mahabad only once in recent weeks, despite his urgent need for medical treatment, and was returned to prison without completing his treatment.

Shamei is currently spending his ninth month of provisional detention in Mahabad Prison in a state of physical and mental uncertainty.

The court has demanded a bail of 30 billion rials – nearly 60,000 USD – for his temporary release, but the family has been unable to provide the required amount.

According to a source familiar with the case, the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) summoned and arrested him on 1 December 2022, after he appeared at the agency’s office in Mahabad during the protests.

Shamei was initially held in the intelligence agency’s detention centre in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan province, where he was interrogated for two months in harsh conditions, the source said.

He was pressured to make forced “confessions” on the charge of “organising the protests” and was only allowed to make one phone call to his family during that time.