A letter from 117 Iranian political prisoners being held in Section 350 of Evin Prison warns authorities about the critical health of jailed blogger Hossein Ronaghi Maleki, who has lost one kidney and is on a hunger strike to fight for sick leave from prison.
The Kaleme website reports that the prisoners’ letter refers to another political prisoner, Hoda Saber, who died in prison during his hunger strike, and they urge the authorities stop a similar situation from befalling another prisoner.
The letter points out that, according to Article 291 of the penal code, if a sentence leads to the prisoners illness or halts his recovery from an ailment, a coroner and trusted physician outside the prison can be charged with treating the prisoner.
The signatories add that the coroner has already issued a letter attesting to Ronaghi Maleki’s inability to endure his sentence, and his physician has clarified that he must be hospitalized outside of the prison in order to get adequate treatment.
Ronaghi Maleki was arrested in December of 2009 for a blog he wrote under the name of Babak Khorramdin.
During the crackdown on protests against the 2009 presidential election results, numerous journalists and bloggers as well as social and political activists were arrested.
Ronaghi Maleki has reportedly sustained severe kidney injury in prison and has already received a kidney transplant. The lack of adequate follow-ups has apparently caused further kidney complications, and he is now on hunger strike, demanding to be released in order to receive the necessary medical treatments.
