Iran court rules cancer-stricken prisoner must complete term
After Iranian political prisoner Omid Kokabee's kidney was removed due to a cancer diagnosis, Iran’s judiciary is still refusing calls to release him early.
Iran’s judiciary spokesman Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei rejected calls for the release of political prisoner Omid Kokabee from prison after he had his right kidney removed. Kokabee, a graduate student in physics at the University of Texas at Austin who was arrested in Iran, convicted of collaboration with an enemy government and illegal earnings and sentenced to 10 years in prison, was diagnosed with renal cancer after reportedly being denied treatment for a kidney illness for years.
Referring to Kokabee, Mohseni-Ejei said April 24, “This offender has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. If someone commits treason against their country they should be punished.” On Kokabee’s illness, he said, “People in prison can become sick like other people, and if they can be treated in prison it will be done. Otherwise they will be transferred to a hospital for treatment.” Mohseni-Ejei said that if a medical doctor says prison will worsen the condition of the prisoner, then it is up to the prison officials to provide another facility.
