Imprisoned Protester Dies of Kidney Failure

After 1 year, 2 months and 26 days of imprisonment, another Green Movement supporter, Arash Arkan, has died of a kidney failure three days after he was hospitalized.

According to Iran-Emrooz, Arash Arkan died at the Baghiyatollah hospital at around 2pm on January 29th after a deterioration of his health condition in prison. He was recently granted a prison leave after his kidney disease worsened in Evin, but was soon called back to prison depriving him from receiving the medical attention that he required. Soon after his return to prison, Arkan’s condition deteriorated and just three days prior to his death, he was taken to Baghiatallah hospital—associated with the Revolutionary Guards—where he passed away due to kidney failure.

Arash Arkan was arrested on 4 November 2009 while helping a protester who was being chased by the police for having taken pictures from an opposition protests close to Vali-Asr Square in Tehran. According to Iran-Emrooz, Arkan, who had realised that a young protester was in danger of being arrested by Iranian security forces for the sole “crime” of filming the unrest using his mobile phone, quickly intervened and attempted to trip one of the security forces to allow for the protester to flee the scene. Although Arkan’s heroic act helped his fellow Iranian to run away, it wasn’t enough to to save himself from the batons of the police forces present at the scene.

Until three months after his arrest, there was no information on Arkan’s arrest or his place of detention. Despite having spent more than a year in prison, judicial authorities sentenced Arkan to eight months in prison disregarding the fact that he had already spent eight months in detention.

It is noteworthy that Arash Arkan’s lawyer was convinced that conducting interviews with foreign television stations and publicising the case would further complicate the situation and damage their case, which is why the plight of this particular prisoner was never reflected in both the Iranian as well as the international press.

When Arash was freed from prison for a few days prior to the court’s decision, he was asked, “If you could go back in time, would you be prepared to help that youngster again?”

“Without hesitation,” replied Arash Arkan.

GVF