Afshin Sohrabzadeh<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nOn 25 June 2016 he was finally granted temporary medical leave. However, he remains unable to fund his treatment because the intelligence authorities have confiscated his national identification documents, preventing him from applying for government-subsidized health care.<\/p>\n
The case of Afif Naimi,<\/strong> a prisoner of conscience and one of seven imprisoned leaders of Iran\u2019s Baha\u2019i community serving a 10-year prison term, is another shocking case. He suffers from a severe blood clotting disorder, which requires regular, specialized medical care not available in prison. The condition can be fatal if left untreated. He has been deemed unfit for imprisonment by medical professionals several times but despite this the Office of the Prosecutor has refused to release him on medical grounds. While in prison, he has suffered recurrent bleeding and loss of consciousness, resulting in his frequent hospitalization.<\/p>\nHunger strikes<\/em><\/h3>\nMany political prisoners suffering from health conditions have felt that they have had no choice but to go on hunger strike to compel the authorities to provide them with medical care. Hunger strikes are usually greeted with indifference but in some cases the authorities have eventually granted the hunger striker short-term medical leave, then forced them to interrupt their treatment by returning them to prison after a brief period against medical advice.<\/p>\n
In some cases prisoners were punished for going on hunger strike. Prisoner of conscience Alireza Rasouli<\/strong>, who is serving a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence, was sentenced to three additional years after he was convicted of national security charges such as \u201cspreading propaganda against the system\u201d including through staging hunger strikes. He suffers from a bone disease in his leg, which has deteriorated because it was left untreated, causing him severe pain and restricting his ability to move. He now requires surgery outside of prison to prevent potentially permanent joint damage.<\/p>\nAmnesty International is calling on the Iranian authorities to immediately stop denying prisoners access to adequate medical care, in line with their international obligations. The authorities must investigate the prosecution authorities and all other officials \u2013 including medical staff \u2013 who may be involved in deliberately denying medical care to prisoners.<\/p>\n