July 30, 2016

Mr. Kazemeini Boroujerdi’s Tenth Birthday in Jail

Today is 31 July 2016, Mr. Kazemeini Boroujerdi’s birthday. He is a religious researcher and metaphysics theoritian who has become 58 years old but still serving his jail sentence innocently. Ten years ago on 8 October 2006, he were arrested along with his family and followers and jailed in Evin prison because of advocating separation of religion from state. Although he consequently was sentenced to 10 years jail, but after about 11 years, he is still jailed in very harsh situation with different tortures and injustice. Following, a brief of his dossier and his last physical conditions as well as the situation of his ward in the Evin prison is described: 

The Case: 
• It’s now ten years of his captivity in the prisons of Islamic regime of Iran; so far he has endured 440 days in notorious solitary confinement cells of Evin prison. During his imprisonment, he was always deprived of proper medication and treatment, and different types of mental and physical torture have been used against him in addition to the mental torture because of threats and pressures from the government on his family out of the prison.
• Mr. Boroujerdi’s trials have been closed and he never had the right to have an independent lawyer. Furthermore, his sentences have been verbally announced to him. For giving any notice of his sentence, he is taken to the Special Court of Clergy or sometimes the officers and prosecutors go to his cell and orally announce the last court decisions.
 • For example, on 12 April 2015, Mohammad Movahedi the special clergy prosecutor, went to his cell and verbally accused him to "heresy and religious interpretations contrary to the views of the leadership" and as a result, Mr. Boroujerdi was transferred to solitary confinement and was kept for 44 days in quarantine of executions with chained arms and legs. Thereafter he was banned of phone calls for seven months.
• The authorities of the special court of clergy and the prison officials have not provided any clear response regarding Mr. Boroujerdi's case to his family, but instead in order to stop tracking the case, his family has been threatened.
• Prison officials and the Special Court of Clergy intentionally deprived him of the right to have proper medication and treatment and so far not a single hour is granted to him as furlough or medical leave. The purpose of this torture is to force him to write repentance letters. This is while any prisoner has the right to leave not only in normal situations, but also to be given emergency medical leave for treatment. In addition, based on the Prison Regulations Act, prisoners have the right to enjoy at least three days leave per month.
• On the other hand, according to the rules, by consideration the months of being detained and not being allowed to use his leave, he had to be released in last April.
• Also according to the statement of the regime’ leader that "a single day in solitary confinement should be calculated as ten days in usual jail", Mr.  Boroujerdi by taking 440 days in solitary confinement has a total of twenty years period of jail. Furthermore, although his sentence is finished, the authorities of Special Court of clergy still kept him under detention without dossiers and completely undecided, while he should have been released a few months ago.

Mr. Boroujerdi suffers from a number of diseases and critical conditions which the most important are as follows:
• Poor eyesight, loss of 90% of sight in one eye 
• Nodules on the thyroid gland, which causes pain in the throat and difficulty in breathing, to the extent that he had strangled throws and he should cough so much to be able to breathe.
• Heart disease, followed by lung embolism and respiratory problems, along with being prevented of drug administration
• Shake of hands, whose cause is unknown
• Discomfort of kidney stones, although his kidney has been scanned by the old machine in the clinic of Evin prison and it was diagnosed that both kidneys containing stones, but no medication has prescribed for it which caused the prisoner patient to dispose the kidney stones with severe pain and bleeding several times.
• Because of consumption of contaminated food being used in the prison, he suffers from digestive problems as well as a stomach problem such as stomach ulcer. According to Mr. Boroujerdi, his food was contained unknown toxins or chemicals for several times.
• Osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and rickets, which causes weak bones and bowed legs and led him to fall several times during a day.
• Strong Edema in legs that is very painful, so that in some cases he does not have the ability to walk.
• Destruction of his teeth due to lack of access to a dentist.
• Prostate disease.

A report on especial ward for cleric prisoners where Mr. Boroujerdi in jailed:
• Special cleric ward of Evin prison is divided to two parts, the large section and the small section. Clerics who are sentenced due to financial crimes, addiction and corruption are jailed in the large section. Mr. Boroujerdi is detained in the small section containing totally about 7 or 8 prisoners. The section is consisting of 2 small rooms plus a corridor between the rooms, a small kitchen, a bathroom and two toilets.
• The prisoners in this section are under permanent monitoring; since a camera is installed in the bathroom, so the prisoners are being monitored even while washing themselves! Mr. Boroujerdi is always one of the protesting prisoners to this situation.
• The only communication tool for the prisoners of this section is a corded telephone which unlike other sections has been located outdoor, so they have serious problems to call their relatives especially during the snowy cold air in winter as well as hot days of summer. Despite of being requested by the prisoners, this is not relocated indoor yet.
• This section is also located close to the security office of the prison and the prisoners are being 24-hours monitored with multiple cameras.
• Sometimes the prisoners with murder and drug offenses or those having dangerous or infectious diseases such as tuberculosis are transferred to this section which is very dangerous for the health of other prisoners.
• This section is not categorized based on the prisoners’ crimes. Mr. Boroujerdi is the only long-term political prisoner of conscience who is jailed in this section.
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In conclusion, the most right violations against Mr. Boroujerdi have been highlighted in this letter. Despite his period of jail sentence is already finished, the authorities of special court of clergy have detained him without any legal reason and completely undecided although he is in a critical physical situation, so it is clear that they are intentionally ignoring the risk of his death. Therefore the representatives of Mr. Boroujerdi together with his family are requesting for clarification on his last situation and his unconditional release.

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