Iranian-Kurdish human rights activist Mohammad Seddigh Kaboodvand, has been transferred to hospital by Iranian prison authorities after spending nearly five years in Tehran’s Evin Prison.

Kaboodvand was arrested in 2007 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for “acting against national security” and running the Kurdistan Defence of Human Rights Organization. He was given another year for “propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”

His wife, Parinaz Hosseini, told Zamaneh that during more than 54 months in jail, Kaboodvand was not given a single day of furlough, and one-on-one visits have not been allowed for the past two years.

Hosseini had previously informed Zamaneh that her husband needed heart and prostate surgery.

Kaboodband published the weekly Payam-e Mardom and established the Kurdistan Defence of Human Rights Organization, which were considered two of his major offences. Payam-e Mardom, which covered political, social and cultural issues in both Persian and Kurdish, was banned in 2005.

Source : Radio Zamaneh