Mohammad Reza Pourshajari has been held in both solitary confinement and Ward 1 of Karaj’s Gohardasht prison during his detention. He was recently allowed to see his family for a brief period of time after four months of imprisonment.
According to Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran, during the visit, his family noted Mr. Pourshajari’s visibly poor health accentuated by a severe loss of weight and overt weakness.
Mr. Pourshajari was arrested on September 12 during a raid by the Iranian regime’s intelligence agents at his residence. He was transferred to the Ministry of Intelligence’s interrogation ward at Gohardasht prison in Karaj.
After undergoing a week of torture, his physical condition began to deteriorate rapidly, prompting regime prison officials to transfer him to the hospital. Subsequent to a mild recovery, he was taken back to solitary confinement where he stayed for weeks.
He was then reportedly taken to a cell where two other prisoners, Mr. Hossein Shaigan, a Bahai Iranian, and Mahmoud Dowlatabadi, who has been in prison for more than 11 months, are held.
After two months there, Mr. Pourshajari was taken to Ward 6, Section 17, where is completely isolated. Several weeks ago he was taken to solitary confinement at Ward 1 of the prison.
During this period, the weblogger was banned from family visits.
In Mashhad, his daughter faces frequent pressures, interrogations and threats from a Ministry of Intelligence interrogator referring to himself with the pseudonym Mohammadian.
Mohammadian has threatened Ms. Pourshajari that if she were to give interviews to media or contact human rights organizations to divulge the condition of her father, she would be arrested. The interrogations and threats have taken place on several occasions and for long periods of times.
The group Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran has condemned the detention and torture of the imprisoned weblog author and has called on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, weblog activists around the world and other international authorities to intervene to end gross human rights violations in Iran.