Tehran, Nov 15 (AFP/APP):Prominent Iranian dissident Hossein Ronaghi has been taken back to prison after receiving hospital treatment following more than 50 days on hunger strike, the judiciary said Tuesday.
“He has been discharged from hospital after being examined by doctors and has returned to prison,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online news website reported.
Ronaghi is one of the dozens of prominent rights activists, journalists and lawyers arrested in a crackdown on protests that erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini, following her arrest by the morality police, according to rights groups based outside Iran.
The judiciary meanwhile denied reports by foreign-based Persian-language media that a 19-year-old took her own life on her release in revulsion over her abuse in prison.
A Wall Street Journal contributor, Ronaghi, 37, has for years been one of the most fearless critics of the Islamic republic still living in the country.
The hunger strike he launched after his incarceration in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison following his arrest on September 24 had raised fears for his health as his family said he was suffering from a pre-existing kidney condition.
Mizan Online reported that Monday that Ronaghi was in a “stable” condition and ready to be discharged from the hospital.
His family also said his health was good after a visit by his parents on Monday.
The authorities have rejected reports that Ronaghi had been physically injured prior to hospitalisation, or that his heart had stopped and he had required resuscitation on arrival.
The United States has raised concerns over his case.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday that the “torture and mistreatment of political prisoners like Mr Ronaghi must cease.”
In the case of 19-year-old Yalda Aghafazli, the judiciary denied reports she had committed suicide, insisting she was a drug user who had died of an accidental overdose.
“The counter-revolutionary media linked her death to the recent riots and claimed this young woman committed suicide on November 11 because of the psychological pressure inflicted during her detention,” Mizan Online reported.
“The inquest and the post-mortem report ruled out the suicide theory” and concluded that “she died of a drug overdose,” the website quoted the head of the Tehran criminal court, Judge Mohammad Shahriari, as saying.
It added that the post-mortem had found “no sign of bruises, blows or fractures on her body”.
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