Ten reformist MPs have called on the Minister of Justice to investigate the death of Reza Hoda Saber, the jailed journalist who died Sunday after a 10-day hunger strike.
Parleman News, the news outlet for Parliament’s reformist faction, reports that the 10 MPs have told Minister Morteza Bakhtiari that there are several ambiguities regarding Hoda Saber’s death, which a judicial probe must clarify.
Hoda Saber started a hunger strike on June 2 to protest the death of his fellow Nationalist-Religious activist Haleh Sahabi, after security forces swarmed her father’s funeral, but then he himself died from a heart attack 10 days into his strike.
His family claims prison officials are responsible for his death because they delayed his transfer to hospital.
Yesterday, Tehran Prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi confirmed that officials had been slow to inform his office about the situation. Abbas Jafri Dowlatabadi said: “Hoda Saber says he is not feeling well on Friday and is taken to the infirmary, and later when his situation worsens, the head of the prison court transfers him to hospital, but he suffers a heart attack there.”
He adds: “We said that the prisoner’s condition should have been reported to us earlier, because in such situations the family of the prisoner is informed to see if they have a preference in which medical facility he is being transferred to. But it was too late to choose the hospital in this case.”
Farideh Jamshidi, Hoda Saber’s wife, has publicly announced that her husband was healthy before his arrest, and his sudden death after 10 days of hunger strike is highly suspicious.
She said: “My husband goes to the infirmary after feeling severe pain, and instead of receiving care there, he was beaten, and that is the cause of his death.” She added that she will soon reveal the name of the assailant.
On Tuesday, 64 of Hoda Saber’s inmates published a statement declaring that he was beaten by prison authorities on the eighth day of his hunger strike.
