Human Rights Watch has issued an announcement calling for an immediate end to the abuse of two jailed Iranian journalists, Mohammad Seddigh Kaboodvand and Bahman Ahmadi Amouyi.
Kaboodvand has already suffered five years of abuse, ill-treatment, and neglect simply because he chose to speak out against injustice. Denying him even temporary leave to see his seriously ill son is an unnecessarily callous act by Iranian authorities,” says Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.
The announcement reviews how Kaboodvand has already suffered five years of mistreatment and is now being denied even a temporary leave to see his seriously ill son. Amouyi’s family has reportedly said that the prominent journalist is being held incommunicado in solitary confinement, and his family is worried about his psychological and physical health.
Kaboodvand has been sentenced to 10 years in jail, and Amouyi is serving a five-year sentence.
Kaboodvand’s wife reports that her husband’s health has deteriorated since he went on a hunger strike.
Amouyi was transferred to Rejaishahr in shackles last month, when he and a group of other political prisoners were holding a commemoration service for Hoda Saber, an inmate who died during a hunger strike.
HRW says: “Iranian law and international law require prison authorities to provide basic necessities to all prisoners and to treat them with dignity and respect.”
The announcement goes on to quote Whitson as saying: “Kaboodvand and Ahmadi Amouyi should be celebrated, not imprisoned and mistreated, for having the courage to stand up for their principles. These men have sacrificed a great deal to insist on the right of all Iranians to speak their minds.”
