Free Iranian Prisoner of Conscience Zahra Mansouri, Denied Her Medication for Epilepsy by Her Jailers
- Target:
- Ahmed Shaheed, UN, UNHCHR, State Department, EU, Navi Pillay, Ban Ki-Moon, European Parliament
- Region:
- GLOBAL
- Website:
- www.iranian.com
Zahra Mansouri, an epileptic prisoner, has been denied access to her medication in prison. Zahra Mansouri, 60, began serving her two-year prison sentence on October 27, 2012.
Zahra Mansouri's physician has warned against conditions that would bring on epileptic seizures for Mansouri, but prison authorities refuse to allow her access to medication provided by her family. Mansouri suffers from serious health problems caused by a recent intestinal operation.
Ms. Mansouri needs to regularly take her medicine and live in a stress-free environment, according to her doctors. Both are being denied her in the Islamic Republic's prison.
Security forces first arrested Zahra Mansouri on June 1, 2011. She spent 90 days in solitary cells inside the Intelligence Ministry's Ward 209 at Evin Prison. During her detention, she underwent surgery due to breast cancer, and immediately after her operation, authorities transferred her back to her solitary cell. She was released on bail on August 19, 2011.
Branch 26 of Tehran Revolutionary Court under Judge Pirabbasi initially sentenced Zahra Mansouri to five years in prison on charges of "acting against national security." Due to Mansouri's ill health, her sentence was reduced to two years in prison and an additional five years' suspended imprisonment.
Zahra Mansouri's brother, Mohammad Ali Mansouri, is a political prison who has been serving a 17-year prison sentence in exile in Rajai Shahr Prison on charges of "relations with groups hostile to the regime". Zahra Mansouri has been exposed to a lot of pressure due to her familial ties.
WHEREAS: Zahra Mansouri is clearly a prisoner of conscience, and furthermore has been sentenced to prison mainly because of her family connections to another prisoner of conscience;
AND WHEREAS: Her imprisonment is therefore illegal under Article 18, Section 1, and Article 19, Sections 1 and 2, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as well as Article 24 of the Iranian Consitution;
AND WHEREAS: She is being denied medical care even though she suffers epilepsy and only recently recovered from a bout with cancer;
THEREFORE: We the undersigned demand that the international community bring ALL POSSIBLE pressure to bear upon the Islamic Republic of Iran to IMMEDIATELY and UNCONDTIONALLY release Zahra Mansouri, vacate her illegal conviction, drop all (equally illegal) charges brought against her, and IMMEDIATELY secure her full access to all the health care she urgently requires.
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The Free Iranian Prisoner of Conscience Zahra Mansouri, Denied Her Medication for Epilepsy by Her Jailers petition to Ahmed Shaheed, UN, UNHCHR, State Department, EU, Navi Pillay, Ban Ki-Moon, European Parliament was written by John S. Burke and is in the category Human Rights at GoPetition.