Hengaw Report: Political prisoner Gholam Hossain Kalbi in critical condition, denied medical care by authorities

Hengaw; Sunday, November 3, 2024 

Gholamhossein Kalbi, an Arab political prisoner from Mahshahr, has been serving a life sentence in Shiban Prison, Ahvaz, for the past 24 years. Despite suffering from serious health issues, Kalbi has been consistently denied access to external medical care and hospital transfers.   

According to reports received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Kalbi faces multiple health challenges, including a hernia, infections in his ears and teeth, and a severe fungal infection in his toenails. However, he has not received the necessary medical treatment outside the prison. 

While he has been sent to the prison’s infirmary multiple times, he has only been given brief examinations and basic medication, which fall far short of his need for specialized care and transfer to an external medical facility. 

Informed sources reveal that the Intelligence department has previously blocked requests to transfer Kalbi to a facility closer to his hometown of Mahshahr. He is currently confined in Shiban Prison’s security ward, where conditions are harsh. The ward is overcrowded, holding twice its capacity, with no designated space for exercise. 

Kalbi was initially arrested on January 8, 2001, in Dezful alongside Saeed Masouri on charges of association with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran. In 2002, he was sentenced to death by the Tehran Revolutionary Court on charges of “waging war against God” (Moharebeh). This sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. 

Following his arrest, Kalbi endured 14 months of solitary confinement in the Intelligence Department´s detention center in Ahvaz before being transferred to Evin Prison, where he was held in Wards 209 and 350. He was later moved to Mahshahr Prison, then to Karun Prison in Ahvaz. After Karun Prison was closed in February 2016, he, along with other inmates, was relocated to Shiban Prison. 

In a tragic turn, Kalbi’s brother, the last remaining member of his immediate family, passed away from a heart attack in November 2016 while traveling to visit him in prison—a visit five years in the making. Authorities denied Kalbi furlough to attend his brother’s funeral, preventing him from saying a final farewell to his last family member.