Bahareh Hedayat was summoned back to prison by the prosecutor’s office despite her need for aftercare after undergoing kidney stone surgery.
According to Kaleme, political prisoner Bahareh Hedayat was finally granted medical furlough for surgery last week but was summoned back behind bars by the prosecutor’s office despite presenting medical documents stating her need for surgery confirmed by the state medical examiner and prison medics.
As a result this political prisoner who was hospitalized yesterday and underwent a surgical treatment to remove her kidney stones has to return to prison per orders of the prosecutor’s office despite recommendation by the physicians that she receive two weeks of aftercare for her recovery.
Amin Ahmadian, Bahareh’s Hedayat’s husband discussed the situation with Kaleme. “Yesterday an extension of medical furlough for Bahreh and for [jailed journalist] Mr. Zeidabadi was refused even though for the past 3 months we have pursued a medical furlough for surgical treatment of kidney stones and we presented all the medical documents to the prosecutor’s office.”
He said, “All the documents were in order, the state medical examiner had confirmed everything and the prison infirmary corroborated the need for surgery. The prosecutor’s office saw all the medical documents, which were to be dispatched. Finally last week we were able to secure medical furlough. But even though we had all the legal medical documents that the prosecutor’s office had required which were verified by the physicians, the prosecutor’s office refused to allow the needed time.”
Bahareh Hedayat’s husband explained, “Yesterday we were contacted at Hasheminejad Hospital and told that she must return to prison. Bahareh was on the hospital bed and no matter how much we explained that she has just undergone a surgical treatment to remove kidney stones which has a process for aftercare, that if she returns to prison she could encounter complications, that prison does not have the needed facility to care for this illness- they did not relent and insisted she must go back to prison.”
Bahareh Hedayat, born in 1981, women’s activist and student activist at Tehran University of Economic Sciences, was a member of the Central Council and spokesperson for the Daftar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat [Office for Strengthening Unity] student organization. She was arrested in December 2009 and after spending months in solitary confinement while being interrogated, in April 2010 Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court presided by Judge Moghiseh sentenced Hedayat to 7.5 years in prison on charges of “gathering and collusion against the regime,” “insulting the leadership,” and “insulting the presidency and propagating against the regime.”
The Revolutionary Court also ordered a previous suspended 2-year prison sentence to be served. That sentence had been handed for “acting against national security by organizing a June 12 gathering in 2006.” With this additional time Bahareh Hedayat was ordered to serve 9.5 years in prison. In August 2010, Branch 54 of the Tehran Appellate Court upheld the 9.5year prison sentence for Bahareh Hedayat.
Also while behind bars, this political prisoner along with Majid Tavakoli and Mahdieh Golrou were handed an additional 6-month prison term by another court on the charge of “propaganda against the regime” for writing material that was released from prison. This brought Bahareh Hedayat’s prison term to 10 years.
Bahareh Hedayat who is known as the symbol of Iranian students was held for a long time in the methadone ward of Evin prison among drug offenders in order to inflict additional stress and pressure. She was also denied her right to visitation for extended periods of time. In 2012 while behind bars, this student and women’s rights activist was awarded the inaugural Edelstam Prize by Sweden’s Harold Edelstam Foundation for “extraordinary courage and commitment to justice, and active against human rights violations in Iran.”
By lalehsr