The Forgotten Prisoner: 15 Years Without a Furlough

Gholam Hossein Kalbi, a 60-year-old political prisoner at Sheyban Prison near the southwestern city of Ahvaz, has received no leave of absence from prison for the past 15 years.

In Iran, many prisoners receive occasional furloughs to reconnect with family members, but officials often refuse this right to political prisoners.

“The last time he met his family was five years ago,” one of Kalbi’s relatives says.

Officials arrested Kalbi in the city Dezful in January 2001 for being a member of the People’s Mujahedin Organization (MEK), which Iran has considered a terrorist group since the early days of the Islamic Revolution.

They held him in solitary confinement for 14 months in an Ahvaz detention center belonging to the Intelligence Ministry. They then moved him to Evin Prison in Tehran.

In 2003, Branch 6 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced Kalbi to death. He appealed, but the appeals court upheld the verdict. In 2006, however, following repeated protests, his sentence was reduced to life in prison.

That same year, he was transferred from Evin to Karun Prison in Ahvaz, where he was held in a ward for political prisoners. The prison has a poor reputation because of its substandard facilities, poor hygiene, inadequate medical care and overcrowding.

In 2015, Kalbi was moved to Sheyban Prison.

“He suffers from many physical problems which are the result of 16 years in prison and 15 months of torture at the Intelligence Ministry’s detention center in Ahvaz,” an informed source says. Kalbi suffers from infection in his left ear, arthritis, back pain, acute gum disease, and jaw and dental problems that have received inadequate treatment in prison.

According to the Iranian Prison Organization’s bylaws, prisoners have the right to occasional leaves of absence. Article 19 of the same bylaws specifies that a detainee or inmate must be given the right to correspond and talk to family members.

According to Article 216 of the bylaws, a prisoner officials deem well-behaved can ask for a 5-day furlough each month, subject to approval by a board of evaluations. But this right is not automatically granted to inmates who have been convicted on charges of armed robbery and activities against national security, or to prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment or death.

Yet even in such cases, a prosecutor or chief judge can grant a leave of absence once each year.

Kalbi, however, is a “forgotten prisoner.” His parents are dead, and he has few advocates.

A relative believes that since Kalbi has not received media coverage, officials have no qualms about violating his rights.

“These days many dangerous prisoners are given furloughs,” he says. “Even those convicted of murder or of huge financial crimes can easily get to spend time outside prison.”

While still an inmate of Karun Prison, Kalbi went on a hunger strike to protest against violations of his rights and to demand medical treatment. His hunger strike lasted for several weeks but prison officials ignored it.

His ear infection has since worsened, causing him to lose hearing in his left ear completely.