Hossein Ronaghi Maleki returned to Evin prison

Persian2English – According to reports, prison officials transferred Hossein Ronaghi Maleki from the hospital back to Evin prison this morning, after he had undergone two operations on his kidneys. The imprisoned blogger and human rights activist, who suffers from a dangerous kidney ailment, was transferred to a hospital on October 25th, after he refused to receive any medicines or treatment from the prison’s clinic. The protest was against the prison authorities’ prevention of Hossein’s transfer to a qualified hospital- even though a few weeks ago, Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi had officially ordered the transfer.

Hossein Ronaghi Maleki’s health is critical and he is in urgent need of prison leave to be under the care of a specialized physician. The imprisoned blogger’s father told Human Rights House of Iran that there are fears Hossein’s kidneys will become infected, and the infection will spread if Hossein is not provided with the proper medical care.

In less than a year, Hossein Ronaghi Maleki has undergone four operations on his kidneys. To date, he has spent close to 700 days behind bars, and the judicial and security officials have banned him from prison leave (furlough).

Hossein Ronaghi Maleki was arrested along with his brother on December 13, 2009 at their parents’ home in the Eastern Azerbaijan province during an operation to “dismantle a counterrevolutionary network.” Reports indicate that Ronaghi Maleki had “written and used software to combat filtering and to host and support websites and blogs that defend human rights.” His brother was later released on an $80 thousand (USD) bail.

He is charged with “Membership in the Iran Proxy internet group”, “Propaganda against the regime”, and “Insulting the Supreme Leader and the President”. In December 2010, one year after his arrest, a 15-year prison sentence issued earlier for the blogger was finalized by the Islamic Republic Appeals Court. According to reports, Ronaghi Maleki’s lawyer and family were not present at the court when the sentence was issued. He was originally sentenced on October 3, 2010 by branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court, but he was not permitted to read the verdict. However, after he was beaten by [regime] officials, he was forced to sign the unread verdict.

Reporters Without Borders has said that this is the heaviest sentence for a blogger to date after the 19 and a half year sentence given to another blogger, Hossein Derakhshan.

According to various human rights reports, Ronaghi Maleki was severely physically and psychologically tortured for ten months while he was held in solitary confinement.