Iranian-Australian Grandfather Shokrollah Jebeli Dies in Evin Prison

An Iranian-Australian grandfather has died in Evin Prison after being denied adequate medical care by prison officials. Shokrollah Jebeli, 82, who had multiple serious health conditions, was jailed in Iran in January 2020 over a financial dispute. His son Peyman tweeted the news on Sunday, adding: “I couldn’t save him.”

Jebeli’s death came barely a week after Amnesty International issued a statement calling for his immediate release, saying the Iranian judiciary was torturing him by “deliberately” blocking him from receiving the specialist help he needed.

Amnesty reported that Jebeli had suffered from enlarged kidney stones, a history of strokes, sciatica in his legs, high blood pressure, and a hernia that needed surgery. When he had a stroke in 2021, he was returned to prison from hospital on the same day, against medical advice.

For the first two years of his confinement Jebeli was also denied all his medication; even after that, he could access only some of it, at his own expense. Even after he was found unresponsive and incontinent on March 8, authorities rejected his release on medical grounds unless he paid 7 billion tomans (about US$290,000).

“He is held in conditions that violate the absolute prohibition of torture or other ill-treatment,” the Amnesty report went on to state in mid-March. “He shares an overcrowded and insect-infested cell with around 19 other prisoners and is deprived of adequate accommodation, forcing him to sleep on the floor on a mattress.

“He has difficulty walking unassisted and relies on other prisoners to perform basic daily tasks. He has fallen numerous times, chipping his teeth and resulting in cuts to his face and body.”

The two cases against Jebeli are understood to have been brought by several plaintiffs. For one of them, he was sentenced to four years and six months; the second was ongoing at the time of his death.

Jebeli was also denied his own choice of lawyer, time to prepare a defense, and the chance to present a counter-case, while the authorities barred him from accessing consular aid. He was also only allowed to place domestic phone calls, while his whole family live in Australia.

Shokrollah Jebeli’s son reported his father had been taken to hospital in shackles once in mid-March, and twice to the prison infirmary. The 82-year-old remained in prison despite a medical examiner’s report having found he was at high risk of an aneurism and ought to be released. On March 18, Peyman Jebeli wrote that prison officials had “made him [Shokrollah] sign a paper that they are not responsible if anything happens to him”.