Kurdish political prisoner Motalleb Ahmadian has been returned to Evin Prison after undergoing several surgical operations at a hospital in Tehran.
Ahmadian, from Baneh, Kurdistan Province, is serving the 16th year of his imprisonment and suffers from a diaphragmatic hernia, spinal canal stenosis, urinary tract infection and duodenal cancer.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that the political prisoner was returned to prison on 1 June after several surgeries at the Tehranpars hospital.
Informed sources said delays in transferring him to medical centres outside prison caused a benign tumour to become malignant and spread to other parts of his body.
Doctors were subsequently forced to remove his gallbladder and part of his liver during several operations.
Despite the deterioration in Ahmadian’s physical condition, the Tehran prosecutor and security agencies have so far refused to approve requests for the suspension of his sentence or for him to be granted medical leave.
His continued detention in harsh prison conditions poses a serious risk to his life.
In previous years, despite confirmation by a specialist doctor and Evin Prison’s infirmary that he needed prescribed medication, prison officials repeatedly refused to hand over medicines obtained from outside the prison.
Ahmadian went on hunger strike on 5 May 2025 to protest the Tehran Prosecutor’s refusal to suspend his sentence and continued obstruction of his medical treatment.
During his imprisonment, he has developed duodenal cancer, a diaphragmatic hernia, spinal canal stenosis and a urinary tract infection.
His continued denial of access to specialised medical care has caused him to lose more than 35 kg, leaving him in a critical and alarming condition.
Ahmadian has long highlighted the impact of medical neglect on his deteriorating health. In a letter written in January 2020, Ahmadian described his worsening health condition, attributing it to the denial of timely medical care. He noted infections in the testicular region and fractures in three vertebrae caused by torture during detention.
He wrote: “Unfortunately, the prison authorities refused to cover the costs of my surgeries and medications. According to the Prisons Organisation’s regulations, these expenses should be borne by the prison, but I had to pay all costs myself. Due to financial constraints, I stopped seeking further treatment.”
Ahmadian, from Baneh, Kurdistan Province, was arrested on 5 October 2010. After eight months in solitary confinement under severe physical torture at security detention centres in Sardasht, Saqqez, and Sanandaj, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison and exile to Minab Prison on charges of “enmity against God” (moharebeh) due to alleged membership of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan.
Additionally, in two separate cases, he was sentenced to one million rials in fines and one year in prison for “unauthorized crossing of the country’s borders” and nine years in prison, half a full diya (blood money), and a 200-million-rials fine for “complicity in murder”.
Since his arrest, Ahmadian has been held in the prisons of Saqqez, Sanandaj, Rajai Shahr, Evin and the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary.
