Source: RFE/RL’s RadioFarda
Iranian activist Fatemeh Sepehri, an outspoken critic of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has again been transferred to Qaem Hospital in the northeastern city of Mashhad and admitted to the “critical care unit.”
In a video released on Instagram, the mother of the imprisoned dissident stated that her daughter’s condition in the hospital was “worse” than after her previous heart surgery and that she was experiencing pain in her “head, hands, feet, back, and chest.”
Fatemeh’s mother recounted that, during their last in-person prison visit, her daughter’s physical condition was “very poor,” to the extent that she had to be “assisted by fellow inmates” to stand up.
Sepehri has been hospitalized several times this month due to issues with her heart.
Earlier this week, Sepehri, who was on medical leave from prison, was rearrested at her residence and taken back to prison.
Prior to Sepehri’s rearrest, her brother noted that officials from the Islamic Revolutionary Court had informed her that her medical leave had concluded and she was to present herself back at the prison to continue serving her 18-year sentence for propaganda activities against the Islamic Republic, cooperation with hostile governments, insulting the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as well as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and gathering and conspiring against national security.
Her two brothers, Mohammad Hossein, and Hassan Sepehri, were arrested by security forces on September 28, coinciding with a heart angiography procedure Fatemeh Sepehri underwent.
Sepehri is among those who have publicly called for the resignation of the Islamic Republic’s leader. Her activism led to her arrest last year during nationwide protests.
She and the other activists have also called for a new political system within the framework of a new constitution that would secure dignity and equal rights for women.
Criticism of Khamenei, who has the last say on almost every decision in Iran, is considered a red line in Iran, and his critics often land in prison, where political prisoners are routinely held in solitary confinement and subjected to various forms of torture.
Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL’s Radio Farda
