4 Months After Heart Attack, Lawyer Mohammad Najafi Granted Medical Treatment Following Hunger Strike

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, human rights lawyer Mohammad Najafi ended his hunger strike in Arak Central Prison on December 14 which he had begun after being denied medical treatment on furlough despite suffering a heart attack four months prior.

An informed source who did not wish to be named told Iran Human Rights: “Mohammad Najafi must be transferred to the hospital for an angiography as soon as possible.”

Mohammad suffered from a heart attack in Arak Central Prison on August 1 and was taken to Amir Kabir Hospital but was returned to the prison without receiving treatment despite official promises.

Mohammad Najafi has been caught in a web of fabricated cases that overlap and ensure he is kept behind bars for years to come. In January 2018, Mohammad was arrested for the revelations he made in his most notorious case, the suspicious death of protester Vahid Heydari in custody, and sentenced to three years imprisonment. In November 2018, Mohammad was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on charges of “aiding an enemy state” for giving interviews to foreign media, two years for “insulting the Supreme Leader with ‘down with dictator slogans’’’ and one year for “propaganda for opposition groups and organisations”, by Branch One of the Arak Revolutionary Court. Mohammad’s 13-year sentence was upheld by the Court of Appeals in April 2019.

He also has a ten year conviction from a previous case. In a separate case tried at Branch 102 of the Arak Criminal Court in November 2018, he was sentenced to one year in prison for “publishing falsehoods in cyberspace by a phone and computer with the intention to disturb public opinion.” Branch 102 sentenced him to another two years of imprisonment in January 2019, this time for “disturbing the public mind” through an open letter, criticising Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. He was sentenced to a further six months in prison on 7 February 2020 by Branch 23 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court for making a speech at the home of Gohar Eshghi, the mother of blogger, Sattar Beheshti who died as a result of torture in the custody of the Iranian Cyber Police in 2012.