December 22, 2010

TO ALL THE FREE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD:

The International Committee Against Execution would like to draw your attention to the condition of Reza Sharifi, a political prisoner in Iran. Reza has been sentenced to death by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Despite his health condition – severe respiratory problems – not only is he being deprived of basic medical treatment, but he is also being detained under inhumane conditions in Rajaei Shahr prison.

The following is what Reza Sharifi Bookani said about his condition, communicated from prison on December 22, 2010:

“Today, Wednesday, I checked in with the head of the medical center in prison and informed him 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 has respiratory disease, and the prison guards, instead of providing him with medical treatments, have imprisoned him along with five other prisoners who are also sentenced to death or life in prison, including Ali Saremi, Khaled Hardani and Saeed Masoori. They have been in prison for many years and were recently left in the prison’s hallways for days. After these prisoners threatened the guards that they would go on hunger strike, they were transferred to two rooms that are in fact solitary confinement cells but now house six prisoners.

Reza’s condition is an indication of the condition of many others whose lives are in grave danger in the prisons of the Islamic Republic of Iran — and their numbers are increasing on a daily basis. The world must stand in defense of Iran’s political prisoners and fight against the criminals who are now ruling Iran.

The International Committee Against Execution asks all of you who oppose the death penalty, are against torture and execution, are defenders of freedom of expression and opinion, as well as all of the human rights organizations around the world, to defend Iran’s political prisoners, to help end the death penalty and torture, and in particular to ask for the immediate release of Reza Sharifi Bookani, Saeed Masoori and Ali Saremi. Please spread the news about their condition, and put pressure on international organizations to press the Islamic Republic to release all of the political prisoners and allow an international delegation to visit Iran’s prisons, specifically Rajaei Shahr prison.

International Committee Against Execution

Translated by K. Montazemi