The sister of deceased labour activist Afshin Osanloo has told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that hospital staff informed her that her brother was already dead when he arrived at hospital from prison.

Afshin Osanloo, who had been serving a five-year sentence, died last week from a heart attack while in Rejai Shahr Prison.

Fereshteh Osanloo reports: “The nurses told us that he was brought to the hospital at around 8 PM on Thursday but he had passed away hours before that. They said my brother could not even have died on the way to hospital and he must have passed away long before that.”

The report comes after the head of Tehran province prisons told Fars News Agency that Osanloo died after arriving at the hospital.

Fereshteh Osanloo adds that her family was not informed of their kin’s death by prison authorities and only found out about Osanloo’s heart attack through other prisoners two days after the incident.

The report adds that the coroner’s report will take three months.

Afshin Osanloo, who was 42, was arrested in 2009 and given a five-year sentence for “colluding and assembly to act against national security” and was transferred to Rejai Shahr Prison from Evin Prison in Tehran last year.