Kurdish political prisoner Motalleb Ahmadian, who suffers from a diaphragmatic hernia and duodenal problems, remains in a critical physical condition as he continues to be denied access to specialised medical care in medical facilities outside Tehran’s Evin prison.
Despite warnings from doctors about his deteriorating health, the Tehran prosecutor has so far refused to authorise his hospitalisation.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that the political prisoner has suffered repeated episodes of severe bloody vomiting in recent days, only to be taken to the prison infirmary and returned after receiving painkillers.
The presence of a gland in the duodenal section of the digestive system, coupled with the persistent bloody vomiting, has caused the Ahmadian’s weight to plummet to less than 35 kilograms.
The prison authorities at Evin Prison have informed the political prisoner, who also suffers from spinal canal stenosis, that all his medical records from Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj are invalid.
They insist that he must wait for permission from the Tehran prosecutor’s office before being transferred to medical facilities. A forensic doctor will then decide on the need for surgery and other necessary treatment.
Prison officials also told Ahmadian that he would be transferred to an outside medical facility for surgery and immediately returned to prison if he covered the expenses himself.
However, medical experts have indicated that his recovery could take more than six months, making his recovery in prison a dangerous endeavour due to the overcrowded prison population and limited health resources.
Ahmadian’s health problems began years ago with orchitis, a testicular infection. In December 2022, he underwent testicular surgery at an outside medical facility, but returned to Rajai Shahr Prison without completing his post-operative recovery.
In a letter dated January 2020, Ahmadian had already expressed his dire health situation, blaming the lack of timely medical care for his deteriorating condition.
He highlighted an infection in his testicles and the fracture of three of his vertebrae as a result of torture during his detention.
The political prisoner complained that, despite regulations stating that the prison authorities are responsible for covering the costs of medical care and medication for prisoners, he had paid for all his medical expenses, including the operation. Due to financial constraints, he was forced to forgo further treatment.
Ahmadian, 38, was arrested on 5 October 2010 in Baneh, Kurdistan Province.
After eight months of detention in security centres in Sanandaj, Saqqez, and Sardasht, during which he was subjected to solitary confinement and physical torture, he was sentenced to 30 years of imprisonment and exile in Minab Prison on charges of “enmity against God” (moharebeh) through “membership” of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan.
Ahmadian was also sentenced to one year in prison and payment of a cash fine of one million rials – nearly 20 USD – on charges of “unauthorised travel beyond the country’s borders”.
In addition, he was sentenced sentenced in two separate cases to one year in prison and a cash fine of one million rials for “unauthorised travel outside the country’s borders”, and to nine years in prison, payment of half of the full-blood money and a cash fine of 200 million rials – nearly 4,000 USD – for “participation in murder”.
Since his arrest, Ahmadian has been held in Saqqez, Sanandaj, Rajai Shahr, and Evin prisons.
