Reported by PMOI/MEK
Iran, Nov. 26, 2018 – Iranian political prisoner Arash Sadeghi is under increasing pressure by Iranian regime officials. Despite suffering from cancer and deteriorating health conditions, Sadeghi has been deprived of access to the minimum needed medical facilities.
According to reports, the health condition of Arash Sadeghi has extremely deteriorated over the past weeks. After undergoing surgery on his arm, physicians had requested that Sadeghi remains in the hospital for 25-30 days for chemotherapy. But the Iranian regime’s judiciary rejected the request and sent Sadeghi back to prison a mere two days after he underwent surgery. The chemotherapy was meant to prevent cancer from spreading to other parts of his body, including his chest.
Physicians have said that Sadeghi has to undergo two more surgeries, but given the current circumstances and the obstructions caused by Iranian regime officials, there’s no telling when those operations will be carried out.
In additions to bone marrow cancer, Arash Sadeghi suffers from severe digestive problems. But due to the conditions imposed by prison officials, he is not able to carry out regular treatment and he can’t eat the prison food. The increasing pressure has caused his body to become weak and frail.
After the surgery, Sadeghi has been taking antibiotics, and without proper food, his body is weakening every day. Sadeghi is being kept in a ward that lacks warm water and heating appliances, and because the windows have been sealed, there’s no proper air circulation in the ward.
Earlier, Amnesty International issued a statement in which it requested immediate medical care for Arash Sadeghi.
Arash Sadeghi has been sentenced to 19 years in prison. He was arrested in June 2016 because he was in touch with international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and was reporting on the human rights situation in Iran.
Depriving prisoners from receiving medical care is one of the commonly used tactics by the Iranian regime to torture and pressure political prisoners. In the past years, these measures used by the regime have caused the death of several prisoners by preventing them from getting timely medical attention.
