URGENT ACTION- Jailed cleric seriously ill

jailed cleric seriously ill, denied TREATMENT

Amnesty- The health of jailed Iranian cleric Sayed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, a prisoner of conscience held in Tehran’s Evin Prison, is worsening. He is in urgent need of medical treatment.

Sayed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, serving an 11-year prison sentence, suffers from a number of illnesses, including diabetes, asthma, Parkinson’s disease, kidney and heart problems and severe pain in his legs and waist. He has also reportedly gone partly blind in one of his eyes. His health conditions have apparently worsened and he collapses frequently.
 He has not been provided with the medical treatment he requires, though prison doctors said in February 2014 that he needed to be hospitalized outside the prison. During the eight years he has spent in prison, he has been admitted to hospital three times.

He is now held in Evin Prison’s Ward for the Clergy: he was imprisoned for advocating the separation of religion and state. He has been under increased pressure to write and sign “confessions”. Prison officials have told him at least once, in October 2013, that if he does not write a letter recanting his beliefs, he will never be released.

Prison guards reportedly raided Sayed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi’s cell on 15 March and destroyed his personal belongings. This happened during visiting hours when he was with his family. His family members have also been harassed, even during a prison visit, when they had to undergo invasive body searches. In September 2013 Sayed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi’s wife, Akram Vali Dousti, was summoned for questioning by the Special Court for Clerics (SCC).

2 April 2014