ICAE Press Release:

A large and growing number of political prisoners in Iran face a deadly form of torture under the Islamic Republic regime: the withholding of medical treatment for serious health conditions. The International Committee against Execution calls for international pressure be exerted to pressure the Islamic Republic to release all political prisoners and allow an international delegation to assess the conditions in Iran’s prisons.

Reza Sharifi Bookani is emblematic of this burgeoning crisis. Bookani is a political prisoner in Iran who is under sentence of death as a result of his efforts to work towards human rights in Iran. In addition to being subjected to severe physical and psychological torture, the Islamic Republic is, as a form of torture, intentionally refusing to treat his severe respiratory problems.

On December 22, 2010, Bookani transmitted a message from prison to the outside world:

“Today, Wednesday, I informed the head of the medical center in prison of difficulties I have in breathing and that I cannot breath normally and am unable to tolerate this anymore. I told him, ‘If you want me to die, say it, and say it frankly. I need antibiotics and a respiratory machine to help me breath. I need surgery. Either provide me with medicine and some medical treatment here or allow me to get it from outside the prison.’ And their response is only silence. Not even aspirin or penicillin is available. As of now, many of the prisoners in Rajaei Shahr prison are suffering from influenza but no medicine is available to treat them. This is our condition in prison.“

Reza Sharifi Bookani, along with Hamed Rouhinejad, Mansour Osanlou, Ahmad Zeidabadi, Behrouz Javid Tehrani, Ali Saremi, Abolfazi Abedini, Kouhyar Goudarzi, and many other political prisoners are all suffering from severe and agonizing morbidities for which the Islamic regime is intentionally withholding treatment as a form of torture.

The International Committee Against Execution asks all concerned individuals to contact the UN, the European Parliament, and national governments and demand that international pressure be exerted with the goal of pressuring the Islamic Republic to release all political prisoners and allow an international delegation to visit and assess the conditions in Iran’s prisons, specifically Rajaei Shahr prison.

International Committee against Execution
Spokes person: Mina Ahadi minaahadi@aol.com
0049-(0) 177 569 2413