Iran: Prisoner of Conscience transferred to psychiatric Hospital

International Liberty Association: Farzin Rezaei Roshan, a prisoner of conscience has been transferred to Aminabad psychiatric hospital. Aminabad psychiatric hospital is located in southern Tehran’s Shahr-e-Rey district.
Farzin Rezaei Roshan has been kept in prison since March 2020.

The prisoner of conscience has been sentenced to four years in prison by the Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court on allagations of “assembly and collusion against national security”, and “Propaganda against the state”.

Farzin Rezaei Roshan’s lawyer, Babak Paknia, announced on his Twitter account that the coroner’s office had written a letter stating that Mr. Rezaei Roshan is suffering from personality and mood disorders.

Mr. Paknia also added that he had told the supervising judge that his client needed treatment and now he has heard that Farzin Rezaei Roshan was transferred to Aminabad Hospital.

Mr. Roshan has been sentenced to imprisonment, while according to Article 149 of the Islamic Penal Code, those who suffer from mental illness are not criminally liable.

The transfer of Farzin Rezaei Roshan to Aminabad Hospital has caused concern on social media, and some Twitter users have expressed their concern about his fate, referring to the death of Behnam Mahjoubi who died in custody on 21 February 2021, after authorities failed to care for his medical condition.

In October 2020, Mahjoubi was forcibly sent to a psychiatric hospital after prison authorities denied his access to medical treatment, which led to his partial paralysis. Evin authorities had denied Mr. Mahjoubi’s access to panic disorder medications, which was provided by his family members since August 2020.

Ebrahim Allah Bakhshi, a former prisoner and a friend of Mr. Mahjoubi, tweeted that Farzin Rezaei Roshan is kept in the same section Behnam Mahjoubi was tortured was, which is ward two of Aminabad psychiatric hospital.

The death of Mahjoubi after untreated medical conditions that included serious neurological issues, reflected the condition of prisoners, especially prisoners of conscience and political prisoners who are subjected to torture including being denied access to proper medical treatment.

ILA: It has been reported that, there are several other similar cases in which political prisoners were recently transferred to psychiatric hospitals instead of receiving medical treatment in a hospital.

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