Iranian political activist Hootan Dolati has been repeatedly denied medical treatment by the clinic in Tehran’s Evin Prison. He has been on hunger strike since 28 November, in protest at being denied medical care for his chronic heart condition.
Hootan Dolati, aged 37, suffers from a chronic heart condition, angina, for which he is dependent on medication. He also suffers the effects of knee and back injuries, which are believed to have been made worse by ill-treatment in detention. He is now understood to have great difficulty walking. In recent months, despite his protests, the medical facility in Evin Prison has denied him any treatment. He began a “wet” hunger strike (taking water and tea but not food) on 28 November, in protest at the prison authorities’ refusal to provide him with the medical care he needs. His health condition is worsening.
Hootan Dolati was arrested on 15 March 2013 and held for nearly a month in solitary confinement in Tehran’s Evin Prison where he was reportedly tortured or otherwise ill-treated.
At the end of May, Hootan Dolati was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment on vaguely-worded national security charges including “distribution of propaganda”; “publication of statements by…” and “membership of” the banned political group, Iran’s National Front Party. The sentence was only conveyed to him orally but, in mid-November, it was reduced to 18 months’ imprisonment. He also received a suspended sentence of 18 months and was banned from joining political parties and from taking part in any social network for five years. He has been imprisoned solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression and is therefore a prisoner of conscience.
Please write immediately in Persian, English or your own language:
Calling on the authorities to release Hootan Dolati immediately and unconditionally, as he is a prisoner of conscience, held solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression and association;
Urging them to provide him with specialised medical care, outside prison if necesary;
Calling on them to investigate allegations of torture immediately and impartially and bring those responsible to justice in accordance with international fair trial standards and without recourse to the death penalty.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 21 JANUARY 2014 TO:
Leader of the Islamic Republic
Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Islamic Republic Street – End of Shahid
Keshvar Doust Street,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Twitter: @khamenei_ir
Email: [email protected]
Salutation: Your Excellency
Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani
c/o Public Relations Office
Number 4, 2 Azizi Street intersection
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Salutation: Your Excellency
And copies to:
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Hassan Rouhani
The Presidency
Pasteur Street, Pasteur Square
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @HassanRouhani (English) and
@Rouhani_ir (Persian)
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.
Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
URGENT ACTION
JAILED ACTIVIST ILL and in need of medical care
ADditional Information
Hootan Dolati is a Sunni Muslim from Iran’s Taleshi ethnic minority. Following his arrest in March 2013, he was held for nearly a month in solitary confinement in Sections 290, 240 and 350 of Tehran’s Evin Prison. Not long after his arrest, he is reported to have protested against the “internal exile” to Zabol of fellow detainee Ali Nazari, after which he was moved to solitary confinement for a further five days.
In 2006 Hootan Dolati obtained a master’s degree in political science from Tehran’s Azad University. At the time of his arrest he was working on civil engineering projects for Tehran City Council and he occasionally published articles in newspapers.
Hootan Dolati has been an active member of Iran’s National Front Party, a secular, nationalist political party founded in the 1940s, which was briefly in power in the early 1950s. The party opposed the government of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran (1941-1979). Nevertheless, in 1979 one of its leaders accepted the post of prime minister under the last Shah. After opposing the introduction of Islamic Shari’a law in Iran’s Penal Code, the party started to oppose the government, which banned it in 1981.
Trial proceedings in most national security cases in Iran are grossly unfair and fall far short of international standards for fair trial. Defendants are tried by Revolutionary Courts on the basis of vaguely worded charges that are not internationally recognizable offences. They are generally denied access to lawyers in the preliminary, pre-trial investigation stage, as Iranian law rules out full access to a lawyer until charges are formally made. National security detainees often face torture and other ill-treatment during pre-trial custody, which can last weeks, if not months.
In his report to the 67th session of the General Assembly in February 2013 the Special Rapporteur on the situation on human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, expressed concern about reports of the widespread use of torture in the country’s prisons. He reported that 78% of people who reported violations of their due process rights also reported that they were beaten during interrogation, that their reports of torture and other ill-treatment were ignored by the judicial authorities, and that their “confessions” were used against them despite these complaints.
Amnesty International