Civil Activist Prisoner Suffers Heart Attack after Being Harassed and Mistreated

International Liberty Association: After being harassed and mistreated by Qarchak Prison officials, Zahra Safaei had a heart stroke. She was taken to the prison’s dispensary but quickly returned to the ward after a brief examination.

According to the reports on 27 October 2020, Mr Mirzaii, the deputy warden of Qarchak Prison, and Mr Asgari, head of the prison’s workshop, had collected signatures on a letter from 13 ordinary prisoners against activist women prisoners and specifically against Zahra Safaei.

The letter indicated that activist women prisoners, and especially Zahra Safaei, had spoken against the state when they went to the workshop.

The Warden of Qarchak Prison subsequently prevented human rights and civil activist, also women political prisoners from going to the workshop based on this letter and closed the door on them.

In reaction to this measure, prisoners in women chanted “death to the dictator” and protested against this decision.

When these women activist prisoners spoke to the prisoners who had signed the letter, it turned out that 10 of the signatories were new arrivals and had not read the letter before signing. Three others apologized from Zahra Safaei and others. They said: “We signed the letter under the pressure of the prison authorities”.

The day after this incident, the 58-year-old Zahra Safaei suffers heart stroke due to the harassment and mistreatment by the prison authorities in Qarchak.

ILA: Zahra Safaei is currently imprisoned along with her daughter, Parastoo Mo’ini, in Qarchak Prison and their lives are in danger. They were arrested in March 2020 and were tortured in Ward 209 of Evin prison for several months.

---