Elderly Iranian-Australian unable to access medicine dies in Tehran’s Evin prison

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An 83 year old Iranian-Australian dual national died in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran on Sunday after authorities denied him access to life-saving medication, despite repeated warnings from his family and human rights organizations.

Imprisoned since January 2020 over financial disputes in Iran, Shokrollah Jebeli was critically ill.  “I was just told my father died today. I couldn’t save him,” his son, Peyman Jebeli who tweets under the “Free Shokrollah” handle, said on Sunday.

The news of Jebeli’s death comes days after two British-Iranian nationals, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori, were freed by Tehran in return for 530 million dollars of debt paid by the British Government. 

Two days earlier, on March 18, Peyman Jebeli sounded the alarm on his father's deteriorating health but his warning fell on deaf ears in Tehran. 

“Shokrollah is critically ill. He is barely able to speak. In the past 48 hours he has had a catheter administered to him … I have been told that he refused to go to hospital despite an ambulance being called. The prison has made him sign a paper that they are not responsible if anything happens to him. He is barely conscious or coherent?” Jebeli tweeted. 

“He was moved to the prison infirmary due to his condition worsening overnight. It was a very difficult night according to a person aware of his condition. He is now completely incontinent.”

Rights organizations also voiced their concern regarding the state in which Jebeli found himself. 

“Iranian authorities are torturing Shokrollah Jebeli … by deliberately denying him adequate specialized medical care and withholding medication for his multiple serious health conditions,” Amnesty International said in an urgent action statement on March 14.

 “In light of his age and poor health, as well as violations of his fair trial rights rendering his detention arbitrary, he must be released immediately."

Jebeli suffered from enlarged kidney stones, a history of strokes, sciatica in his legs, high blood pressure, and an umbilical hernia for which he needs surgery.  

“Until January 2022, the authorities denied him all his medication; since then, they have only allowed him access to some of his medications at his own expense,” Amnesty said.