{"id":89489,"date":"2020-10-08T07:30:30","date_gmt":"2020-10-08T12:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/?p=89489"},"modified":"2020-10-08T07:31:26","modified_gmt":"2020-10-08T12:31:26","slug":"auto-draft-246","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2020\/10\/08\/auto-draft-246\/","title":{"rendered":"Source: Iranian Dissident Contracts Coronavirus in Prison"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"VOA \u2014 WASHINGTON\/ISTANBUL – An Iranian dissident has contracted the coronavirus at a prison in northern Iran, according to a knowledgeable source, highlighting what U.S. and U.N. officials say is a worsening pandemic threat facing Iran\u2019s prisoners of conscience.<\/p>\n

In a message sent Tuesday to VOA Persian, an Iran-based source close to the family of dissident Farhad Meysami said Meysami tested positive for the virus at Rajaei Shahr prison in the city of Karaj and was transferred that morning from his ward to a so-called prison \u201csafe room\u201d for isolation. The source had no further details on the conditions of Meysami\u2019s detention.<\/p>\n

The 50-year-old medical doctor and women\u2019s rights activist<\/a> has been imprisoned by Iran since his July 31, 2018, arrest. Security agents detained him at his Tehran home where they found him in possession of pins with the slogan \u201cI am against compulsory hijab.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meysami had been peacefully supporting a 2018 campaign by Iranian women<\/a> who removed their hijabs in public to protest Islamist regulations requiring the headscarves. He was sentenced in January 2019 to five years in prison on charges of \u201cspreading propaganda against the system\u201d and \u201cgathering and colluding to commit crimes against national security,\u201d\u00a0\u00a0a sentence<\/a> that was upheld on appeal in August that year.<\/p>\n

Authorities initially incarcerated Meysami at Tehran\u2019s Evin prison before moving him to Rajaei Shahr last November.<\/p>\n

A former Iranian political prisoner first reported Meysami\u2019s coronavirus infection in a series of Monday tweets.<\/p>\n