Young Political Prisoner Attempts Suicide in Minab Prison

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran

Afshin Sohrabzadeh, a young Kurdish prisoner at Minab Prison, attempted suicide on Wednesday, July 3, in protest of his exile and what he called the “deplorable conditions” of the facility, a local source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. The source, a human rights activist, told the Campaign that Sohrabzadeh, sentenced to 25 years in exile at Minab Prison by the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court, attempted suicide by “swallowing broken light bulb glass” and “cutting his veins with a sharp object.”

After the prisoner was transferred to the prison infirmary, due to the facility’s limitations and the prisoner’s critical condition, he was transferred to a Minab hospital where his stomach was pumped. As
his hospitalization required Prosecutor’s orders, he was returned to Minab Prison, was again transferred from the prison to a hospital outside to pump his stomach, and again returned to prison a few hours later. The human rights activist added that despite the prisoner’s need for hospitalization, prison authorities returned Sohrabzadeh to his ward.

Kamyaran Intelligence Office forces arrested Afshin Sohrabzadeh, a 23-year-old resident of Kermanshah, on the road from Sanandaj to Qazvin on June 8, 2010. Following completion of his interrogations, Sohrabzadeh was transferred to Sanandaj Central Prison. Later, Branch Two of Sanandaj Revolutionary Court convicted him of moharebeh (enmity with God) through membership in a Kurdish political party, and sentenced him to 25 years in exile at Minab Prison. The case was forwarded to the Supreme Court after his lawyer appealed the ruling, but Afshin Sohrabzadeh was transferred to Minab before the Supreme Court could review his sentence. He was informed later while at Minab Prison that the Supreme Leader had upheld his sentence.

In April, Afshin Sohrabzadeh was detained inside Minab Prison’s Quarantine Ward for two months, following an argument with prison forces.