A Paris-based media advocacy group expressed concern Friday for the health of an Iranian activist jailed on security charges who was earlier this week rushed to hospital and urged authorities to release him from prison.
Reporters Without Borders said journalist and human rights activist Emadeddin Baghi was taken to hospital Wednesday, after suffering a "double heart attack" in the Evin prison in Tehran, where he has been held for the past 74 days.
He was taken back to a new wing cell of Evin on Thursday evening, the press freedom organization, known by its French initials RSF, said in a statement made available to The Associated Press.
Baghi, 45, was arrested in October on charges of violating national security. He is an active campaigner for prisoners' rights and against Iran's death penalty. In 2005, he was awarded the French government's human rights prize, RSF said.
Iranian authorities have said that due to Baghi's ongoing activities, he had to serve the remaining year of an earlier prison sentence that had originally been suspended. They accuse him of using his activism as a guise to cover anti-regime efforts.
"The conditions in which Baghi is being held are unacceptable," the RSF statement said. "He has been in solitary confinement ever since he was first taken to Evin, as if imprisonment was not already enough punishment. As his state of health has worsened steadily during the past two months, it is inconceivable that he should be expected to convalesce in prison."
Baghi's lawyer, Saleh Nikbakhat, said his client was rushed to hospital after collapsing in a prison shower Wednesday. RSF said Nikbakhat had told them Baghi's deteriorating health was mainly due to appalling prison conditions and harassment he has been subjected to during interrogations.
In 2003, Baghi was sentenced to three years in prison on similar charges of threatening national security, but only served two years of the term.
Iran recently released three Iranian-Americans after they spent about four months in Evin, a notorious prison on the northern outskirts of Tehran, on accusations of trying to stir up a revolution in the Islamic Republic.
A fourth Iranian-American also was allowed to leave the country after authorities confiscated her passport earlier this year. All four were charged with endangering national security — allegations they and their employers denied.
Human rights groups also have accused Iran of committing abuses against prisoners at Evin — a charge the government denies.
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Tuesday, January 1, 2008
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