ICC Note: Christian convert and Iranian prisoner, Maryam Zargaran has gone on another hunger strike in Evin prison to contest Iran’s refusal to allow her proper medical attention. Zargaran’s last hunger strike led to the prison allowing her medical leave at the beginning of June. On June 27, however, she was forced to return without having completed her treatment. Now she is demanding immediate and unconditional release.

07/13/2016 Iran (Mohabat News): Female Christian prisoner Maryam Naghash Zargaran has gone on another hunger strike in Iran’s notorious Evin prison.

Naghas Zargaran’s family has confirmed the news of her strike and stated that she seeks immediate and unconditional release through her indefinite hunger strike.

Ms. Zargaran returned to prison on Monday, June 27, 2016, after judicial authorities refused to extend her medical leave and threatened to seize her title deed should she not return to prison.

She went on a medical leave on June 6, 2016 after an eleven-day hunger strike. She began her treatment then but was taken back to prison before she could finish her treatment.

Prison physicians had told her that she needs specialized medical attention outside prison, but Iranian authorities initially refused to grant her a medical leave to receive much needed care in a hospital. Ms. Zargaran went on a hunger strike to express her protest and to pressure authorities to let her go to a hospital for treatment.

Earlier, Ms. Zargaran had been transferred to a hospital but was taken back to prison immediately without any apparent reason.

Ms. Zargaran suffers from a heart condition known as Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), for which she underwent surgery years ago.

Additionally, she has been feeling numbness in her hands and feet and suffers from chronic pain in her joints and spinal column. Initial diagnosis has revealed the reason for these pains could be osteoporosis and arthritis. One of the physicians in prison has prescribed five days of physiotherapy for her, but authorities still refuse to allow her to receive treatment.

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