Protesting Father Of Jailed Iranian Activist Hospitalized After Heart Attack

The father of prominent Iranian activist Hossein Ronaghi was transferred to hospital after suffering a heart attack outside Tehran’s Evin prison, where his son was being held.

The activist’s brother Hassan on November 5 tweeted a photo of his father lying on a hospital bed. He said he was expected to undergo surgery this week, adding: "The Islamic Republic is responsible for this situation of my father."

Hossein Ronaghi was arrested in late September during the ongoing wave of protests rocking the country over the death of a 22-year-old woman while in custody of morality police.

He had used Twitter to report about the protests, the brutal crackdown by the security services, and the Internet disruptions, among other things.

Images of his parents waiting in the cold outside Evin prison, wrapped in blankets, to demand information about their son’s health condition went viral on social media. 

Hassan Ronaghi said on October 14 that officials were keeping his brother "in prison without his medicine, with broken legs and a sick body while he is vomiting blood.”

Ronaghi was imprisoned several times since the 2009 Green Movement protests, largely in relation to his activism against Internet censorship in Iran.