According to reports received by HANA Human Rights Organization, a former political prisoner identified as Omid Cheraghi, from Kermanshah, who is serving the remainder of his sentence under electronic ankle bracelet monitoring, has been denied access to adequate medical care and parole, despite suffering from a serious heart condition caused by torture.
HANA Human Rights Organization has learned that Omid Cheraghi was arrested in border areas on February 20, 2024, and subsequently held in solitary confinement for 76 days, during which he was subjected to the most severe forms of psychological pressure and physical torture. The conditions were so extreme that he suffered a heart attack while in detention yet security and judicial authorities refused to transfer him to medical facilities outside the prison.
After serving two years of his custodial sentence, Omid Cheraghi has been released under electronic ankle bracelet monitoring. He has been sentenced to a total of three years and nine months in prison, and must serve the remainder of his sentence under electronic surveillance and movement restrictions.
An informed source close to the prisoner’s family told HANA that since his release under the ankle bracelet, Omid has been hospitalized several times due to the deterioration of his heart condition, and is currently in urgent need of specialized medical care. However, the judiciary has shown no regard for his physical condition. The source further added that approximately two months ago, a parole request was submitted to the presiding judge, but the obstruction and lack of accountability from officials has left him in an extremely fragile psychological state.
Reports also indicate that severe discriminatory treatment is being applied against this political prisoner. While all other prisoners currently wearing electronic ankle bracelets are able to make use of their legal right to leave, Omid Cheraghi along with three other political prisoners has been denied this right. In part of his own statements, he has said that he can no longer bear this painful situation and the mounting pressures, and that he is completely broken inside.
HANA Human Rights Organization, while expressing deep concern for the health and life of Omid Cheraghi, strongly condemns the inhumane treatment, denial of medical care, and compounded discrimination being applied against political prisoners, and calls for an immediate end to these pressures and urgent attention to his medical case.