Iran’s regime is increasing pressure on political prisoner Ali Moezi, denying him access to medical care and facilities. In a move to torment and humiliate him, prison authorities have predicated his transfer to the hospital on wearing prison clothes. Moezi has refused to comply with the regime’s unlawful demand.
Ali Moezi, 70, is currently held in Evin’s 4th ward. He has spent 16 years in the regime’s prisons for his political activities and his support for the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). He spent several years in the regime’s prisons in the 1980s. He was arrested and imprisoned again in the 2000s and 2010s for his political activities.
He was arrested most recently in September 2022, during the nationwide uprisings. At the time, he had just undergone cancer surgery and was in need of medical treatment. But the regime has continued to deny him access to essential medical care since his arrest.
The regime has charged Moezi with a series of baseless allegations. On August 6, 2023, the criminal judge Abolghassem Salavati, a notorious human rights abuser, sentenced him to six years and three months in prison under outrageous charges including “Upholding his beliefs,” “his children being in Ashraf-3,” and “issuing a statement against the regime.” Salavati callously declared, “Welcome to Ward 209!” referring to the notorious ward in Evin prison where political prisoners are incarcerated.
In a statement, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) stressed that the regime and its supreme leader Ali Khamenei are responsible for the life and health of Ali Moezi, has called on the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran and other human rights organizations and bodies to follow up on his medical condition and take urgent action to ensure his access to a hospital, a specialist doctor, and the necessary medication.
The new measures against Moezi come as the regime is mounting pressure on political prisoners and relatives of the PMOI.
On December 2, the regime’s judiciary sentenced political prisoners Zahra Safaei, 61, and her children, Parastoo Moeini, 23, and Mohammad Masoud Moeini, 24, as well as Kamran Rezaei-Far, 58, each to five years in prison.
The regime’s judiciary charged them with collaborating and communicating with the PMOI, undermining national security, and participating in activities against the regime. The regime used their private conversations, online activities, and reports of the Intelligence Ministry and interrogators as evidence of their supposed crimes.
Also on December 2, political prisoner Maysam Dehbanzadeh was transferred to Evin Prison to serve a six-year prison sentence. He has also been banned from residing in Tehran and neighboring provinces and banned from leaving the country on charges of “assembly and conspiracy with the intent to commit a crime against national security” and communicating with the PMOI.
The regime is extremely terrified of the growing support for the PMOI and the Iranian Resistance, especially as calls for regime change have become louder since the 2022 uprising. In this light, the regime has resorted to different repressive measures against the Iranian Resistance.
In addition to the mounting pressure on political prisoners, the regime has set up a sham trial against 104 members of the PMOI and the NCRI. The regime is publicizing the trial profusely in order to cause fear among Iranian youths and dissuade them from joining the ranks of the Resistance Units, an organized network of activists who support the PMOI.
However, none of these measures have managed to slow down the growing momentum in the Iranian people’s march toward freedom.