Health Deterioration of Iranian Imprisoned Lawyer, Houtan Kian, Rejected for Medical Examination

Javid Houtan Kian Iranian lawyer, political prisoner in Tabriz Central Prison is in health deterioration due to lack of medical consideration.

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), this imprisoned lawyer is suffering from Kidney and intestinal infections and is being rejected for medical examination.

Mr. Javid Houtan Kian is a lawyer who represented Mrs. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, when she was accused of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning in 2010. He supported her son, Sajjad Ghaderzadeh’s campaign to raise international awareness about his mother’s case.

He was arrested by members of the Ministry of Intelligence in October 2010 following her conviction, together with two German journalists and Sajjad Ghaderzadeh, Sakineh’s son. He was accused of acting against national security and sentenced to 11 years in prison following a televised confession and was barred from practising law for 5 years. The journalists and Sajjad Ghaderzadeh, who had been subjected to severe torture, were later released.

In September 2011 HRANA News Agency conducted an interview with Javid’s defence lawyer, Mr. Naghi Mahmoudi, who had been given permission to visit him. He reported that he barely recognised Javid, who had lost about half his body weight in the 6 months he had been held. He had been severely tortured and kept in solitary confinement. His nose had been broken, as had a number of his teeth and he had been burned with cigarettes many times. He had been tortured for hours at a time and passed round like a football between 20 and 25 guards. He was moved from Evin Prison to Tabriz where he has been kept on a ward designated for the insane and HIV-positive intravenous drug-users. Following the interview, Mr. Naghi Mahmoudi was denied further visits to Javid.

In March last year he managed to send an open letter from prison to important individuals and organisations round the world, setting out his case.