Disabled Sunni prisoner deprived of adequate medical treatment

HRANA News Agency – Abdol Rahman Sangani, a disabled Sunni prisoner who is currently awaiting execution in Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj, has been deprived of adequate medical care by the prison authorities.

According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), he was left paralyzed on the left side of his body after being hit by a car in suspicious circumstances in November 2006.

He frequently loses his balance, and in recent days fell and hit his face on the floor, leading to a severe eye injury.

According to reports, he is in a bad physical condition and the authorities have not provided him with adequate medical care.

Abdol Rahman Sangani, who was active in practicing Sunni Islam in his home town of Taibad, northwest Iran, reportedly faced systematic harassment from the Iranian authorities.

He was previously imprisoned for 5 months in 2004 on charges of ‘acting against national security’. Upon his release, he was repeatedly summoned to the Ministry of Intelligence and threatened, a common intimidation tactic used by the Iranian regime.

On 19 November 2006 he was severely injured in a suspected assassination attempt in the city of Taibad, after a car mounted the pavement where he was walking and drove into him. The driver fled the scene.

He was arrested in January 2010, after being summoned to the Revolutionary Court in Tehran under false pretenses. Upon arriving at the court, he was arrested by agents from the Ministry of Intelligence and transferred to the Intelligence Ward 240 of Evin Prison in Tehran.

He was held in solitary confinement for 18 months where he was subjected to severe torture. According to reports, his family where not given any information about his whereabouts during this time.

He was transferred to Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj in 2011, before being sentenced to death in Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court under the pretext of ‘Moharabeh (enmity against God) through the support of Salafi groups’.