The Jaras opposition website reports that jailed journalist Keyvan Samimi is in critical health, but prison authorities refuse to transfer him to hospital for the necessary treatment.
Jaras reports that Samimi has developed liver complications that could prove fatal.
Samimi, director of the currently banned monthly Nameh, is a prominent social activist and a member of the Nationalist-Religious Council, the Association of Free Press, the Council for National Peace and the Committee for the Investigation of Arbitrary Arrests, as well as the Committee for the Defense of the Right to Education.
He was arrested in the post-election crackdown on protesters who disputed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad`s victory in the 2009 presidential elections. Samimi was sentenced to six years in prison and a lifetime ban from political activity for the charge of “propaganda against the regime and assembly and collusion to disturb national security.”
The appellate court confirmed his six-year term but his lifetime ban from political activity was reduced to 15 years.
