Kurdish political prisoner Motalleb Ahmadian’s letter to UN Special Rapporteur: My health is in serious danger in my 15th year of imprisonment
Hengaw: Tuesday, March 4, 2025
Motalleb Ahmadian, a Kurdish political prisoner from Baneh, has entered the 15th year of his 30-year prison sentence. In a letter addressed to Dr. Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, he has detailed the severe deterioration of his health and his deprivation of medical care.
According to reports received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Ahmadian, a 39-year-old political prisoner from Baneh, stated in his letter that despite the physical and psychological consequences of torture and the life-threatening illnesses he suffers from, he remains deprived of medical treatment in prison.
Motalleb Ahmadian was arrested on October 5, 2010, by government forces. After enduring 230 days in solitary confinement under torture, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison on charges of "waging war against God (Moharebeh) through membership in the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan."
Below is the full text of his letter, a copy of which has been obtained by Hengaw:
Dr. Mai Sato, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran
Greetings and Regards,
I, Motalleb Ahmadian, a political prisoner, have been incarcerated since 2010 and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Now, in my 15th year of imprisonment, without a single day or even an hour of furlough, I am held in Evin Prison under the harshest conditions.
During my detention at the Urmia Intelligence Department in 2010, I was kept in solitary confinement for months and subjected to severe torture. During the interrogations, one of my legs was broken, my shoulder was dislocated, and nearly all my teeth—except for three—were shattered. Punches, kicks, and cable whips became my daily ration. Once, a blow to my back with an iron rod fractured one of my vertebrae, leaving me paralyzed and unable to move for six months.
Currently, many of the illnesses I suffer from are direct consequences of these tortures. These include spinal canal stenosis, severe testicular infection, intestinal colitis and internal bleeding, hernia and diaphragm rupture, gastric volvulus, heart palpitations and shortness of breath, duodenal ulcer, and kidney failure.
The severity of these illnesses has reached a point where I am even unable to eat, resulting in extreme weight loss.
Despite my continuous efforts over the past year—medical approval for sentence suspension, confirmation by Evin Prison’s medical team, provision of a 5-billion-toman bail, and sponsorship by five attorneys—the Tehran Prosecutor, Ali Salehi, has arbitrarily denied my sentence suspension and blocked my access to medical treatment.
Unfortunately, the lack of even minimal medical treatment facilities in Iran’s prisons, coupled with judicial authorities’ refusal to allow political prisoners access to treatment, even at their own expense, has turned healthcare denial into a tool of pressure against prisoners. Currently, many political prisoners held in wards 4 and 8 of Evin Prison, as well as in the women's ward and numerous other prisons, require urgent medical attention but are systematically denied this right by the judiciary. Among them are:
Asadollah Hadi (Evin Prison)
Zeinab Jalalian (Yazd Prison)
Gholamhossein Kalbi (Sheyban Prison, Ahvaz)
Ali Moezi (Ghezel Hesar Prison, Karaj)
Farzaneh Ghareh-Hassanlou (Vakilabad Prison, Mashhad)
Raheleh Rahemi-Pour and Marzieh Farsi (Evin Women's Ward)
And many others who are deprived of medical care.
Ms. Mai Sato, I urge you to pay special attention to the right to medical care for prisoners, especially political prisoners in Iran’s prisons, and to the inhumane restrictions imposed by the judiciary. Access to healthcare is a fundamental right of prisoners, yet I and many others remain deprived of this basic right.
Motalleb Ahmadian
Political Prisoner – Evin Prison
March 2025
