Yazdi trial delayed further; "he won’t last in prison"

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran

As Ebrahim Yazdi’s trial session was delayed for a second time, his son-in-law, Dr. Mehdi Nourbakhsh, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that keeping Yazdi in a state of limbo is a psychological game authorities are playing with the veteran political prisoner and his family. Nourbakhsh said that a physician attending Yazdi said that he won’t last long in prison because he suffers from prostate cancer and without specific medical treatment, he could face infections. According to Nourbakhsh, during a visit with her husband, agents blindfolded the Yazdi’s wife so that she could not identify the house in which he is detained.

“According to his wife, the house in which Dr. Yazdi is detained is not bad. For the first time, he has been allowed to have access to pen and paper and books. But the problem is his visitation process. His wife is blindfolded a while before they reach the Intelligence Ministry safe house in which he is detained, so that she cannot tell the location. This visitation process is difficult and scary for his wife, who is elderly. All Dr. Yazdi’s children live abroad,” said Nourbakhsh about Yazdi’s visit with his wife.

“None of us, nor his lawyer, know anything about the real reason Dr. Yazdi’s trial was delayed again. We never learned the reason his first court on 7 December 2010 was delayed, and we know nothing today. The only thing they told his lawyer was that the case does not have sufficient documents. His physical conditions are not such that he could remain under these conditions. Now we don’t know what they plan to do. We think they are playing psychological games with the family and they want to put the Movement under increasing pressure,” Nourbakhsh told the Campaign.

Dr. Mehdi Nourbakhsh told the Campaign that there has not been much talk about Yazdi’s most important illness. “Other than the prostate cancer, high blood pressure, and heart disease, another problem Dr. Yazdi suffers from and little has been said about it, is that he must be assisted to empty his bladder once every four hours. This is accomplished by using medical equipment. If this is not done in a completely hygienic environment with equipment that is routinely sterilized, Dr. Yazdi could quickly develop infections. This is why he was transferred to Evin Prison Infirmary several times. His situation is very sensitive, and his problems are not only high blood pressure and cancer. If he develops an infection, and the infection becomes serious, life would become very difficult for him,” Nourbakhsh said.

“When he was in prison, at least whenever he was faced with a problem, he could go to the prison infirmary, even though the prison physician also said that he would not last in prison. But now we are concerned that there are no doctors in the house to which he has been transferred, and if a problem comes up and there is no speedy action for treatment, he could face serious and acute problems,” Nourbakhsh added.

Head of Branch 15 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Courts prevented the Secretary-General of Iran’s Freedom Movement, Ebrahim Yazdi’s trial today, stating “shortcomings in the case.” His previous trial session, scheduled for 7 December 2010, was postponed without presenting any reasons.

Dr. Ebrahim Yazdi was arrested on 1 October 2010 in Isfahan on the charge of “participating in an illegal group prayer,” and according to the latest information, he has been transferred from Evin Prison to a safe house inside a military zone.