Amnesty International concerned for health of detained Iranian student activist

Majid Tavakoli

Amnesty International released a statement yesterday expressing grave concern about the condition of detained Iranian student activist, Majid Tavakoli.

In a statement on its official website, Amnesty International writes: “Iranian student leader and prisoner of conscience Majid Tavakkoli, who is serving an eight and a half year prison sentence, has been moved to a section of Tehran’s Evin prison where conditions are particularly harsh and unsanitary. He is still suffering from a serious respiratory condition, and his health is likely to deteriorate further if he does not receive specialist medical care.”

Tavakoli was arrested last December during the protests on National Student’s Day in the course of post-election protests to the alleged vote fraud in the presidential elections.

Majid Tavakoli suffers from respiratory complications and is recently transferred to the notorious section 350 of Evin Prison which reportedly has the worst conditions in Evin.

Daneshjoo News has also reported that Majid Tavakoli is in dire health conditions and has been bleeding due to “severe coughs.”

One of the inmates has reported that the prison guards refrain from sending Tavakoli to the prison infirmary. He is also unable to hold telephone conversations with his mother due to severity of his coughs.

Tavakoli has been sentenced to 8 years in prison for “participating in illegal gatherings, propaganda against the regime and insulting the leader and the president.” He has also been banned from political activity and travel abroad for five years.

Last month, Majid Tavakoli went on a hunger strike in protest to being kept in solitary confinement after which he was moved to section 350.

Numerous Iranian social and political activists have been arrested and incarcerated in the past year in protest to alleged vote fraud which protesters claim secured Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election.