Amnesty International is running an Urgent Action Campaign for Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki

AILING BLOGGER TOLD TO RETURN TO PRISON

Blogger Hossein Ronaghi Maleki has been summoned to return to prison to resume serving his 13-year sentence though he is critically ill and doctors have advised against stopping his specialized medical care. He has been on medical leave since mid-June 2015. If he returns to jail, he will be a prisoner of conscience.

Hossein Ronaghi Maleki received a summons, on 20 December 2015, from the Office for the Implementation of Sentences telling him that he must return to prison within a month to resume serving his prison term, or else the bail amount set to secure his release would be confiscated. He objects to this decision and intends to sit outside the Office of the Prosecutor on 20 January, the deadline of the summons. Despite his poor health, the authorities have told Hossein Ronaghi Maleki on multiple occasions that he “must return [to prison]”, including shortly after he was granted medical leave in June 2015. He has not, however, been rearrested.

Hossein Ronaghi Maleki has only one functioning kidney and according to his doctors needs constant monitoring and access to specialized medical care, which he cannot get in prison.

He was arrested on 13 December 2009 and sentenced to 15 years in prison for offences including “membership of the [illegal] internet group ‘Iran Proxy’ ”, “spreading propaganda against the system” and “insulting the Supreme Leader”, apparently in connection with articles he had posted on his blog. After arrest, Hossein Ronaghi Maleki was held for over a year in solitary confinement, during which he has said he was tortured and otherwise ill-treated, which may have contributed to his poor health.

Please write immediately in Persian, English, Spanish, French or your own language:

•  Calling on the Iranian authorities to allow Hossein Ronaghi Maleki to remain free and have urgent specialized medical care in hospital outside prison;
• Urging them to ensure that he is not punished in any way for the peaceful exercise of his rights to freedom of expression and association;
• Calling on them to ensure that his allegations of torture and other ill-treatment in solitary confinement are investigated, independently and impartially, and that he is protected from further torture and other ill-treatment, such as the denial of medical care. 

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 1 MARCH 2016 TO:

Office of the Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei
Islamic Republic Street- End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: via website http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php? p=letter
Twitter: @khamenei_ir (English) Salutation: Your Excellency

Also send copies to:

Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani
c/o Public Relations Office Number 4, Deadend of 1 Azizi Above Pasteur Intersection
Vali Asr Street
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran Email: [email protected] Salutation: Your Excellency

And copies to:

Prosecutor General of Tehran
Abbas Ja’fari Dolat Abadi
Tehran General and Revolutionary Prosecution Office
Corner (Nabsh-e) of 15 Khordad Square Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Iran does not presently have an embassy in the United States. Instead, please send copies to: Embassy of Pakistan - Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran
1250 23rd ST. N.W. #200, Washington, D.C. 20037
T: 202.965.4990 | 202.965.1073 | Email: [email protected]

For more information about Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki, read his profile or our article about his current situation.