Iranian Prisoner Dies from Lack of Medical Care in Ghezelhesar Prison

A young Iranian prisoner has died in Ghezelhesar prison due to inadequate medical attention and delays in his transfer to medical centers, human rights sources reported.

According to a report by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Kianoush Valadbeigi, 35, from Kermanshah province, succumbed to his health conditions in a Tehran hospital.

Despite battling kidney and heart diseases for several years, he faced obstruction from prison authorities in obtaining the necessary medical leave.

Valadbeigi was arrested in Shiraz seven years ago on charges related to drug offenses, receiving an 18-year sentence.

Approximately two years before his death, he was relocated from Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz to Ghezelhesar prison in Karaj, near Tehran.

At least 32 inmates died within the confines of the Islamic Republic's prisons last year, according to Hengaw. Nine of them were political prisoners.

Torture was the reason behind the reported death of at least 11 inmates.

Other fatalities were caused by delayed medical treatment or denial of healthcare, fighting between inmates, suicides, and suspected poisonings.

As many as 60 per cent of those who died in prisons were Kurds.