Over 498,100 people have died of the novel coronavirus in 547 cities across Iran, according to reports tallied daily by the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) as of Sunday Jan 16.

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Political prisoner Nejat Anvar Hamidi, 66, is going blind in the Sepidar Prison of Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan Province, SW Iran. She has been deprived of medical care and sick leave by the order of the Intelligence Ministry. Nejat Anvar Hamidi suffers from cataracts in both eyes and needs urgent operation. According to the latest news on January 15, 2022, the prison’s doctor has told her, “You don’t need any operation until you go blind!” On October 26, 2021, Mrs. Anvar Hamidi experienced bleeding in both eyes due to a lack of medical attention. Still, again, prison authorities refused to provide treatment. Her family has been mistreated, and no official has responded to her illness or lack of medical care. Nejat Anvar Hamidi detained since 2019 without a single day off. https://tinyurl.com/2ja4s295

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A prosecutor in Iran opposed the temporary release on bail of Saada Khadirzadeh. Saada Khadirzadeh is pregnant and presently detained in the Central Prison of Urmia. The warrant for her detention had been changed to temporary release on bail. She had written two letters to the Prosecutor of Piranshahr and requested that her detention warrant be changed to release on bail. The inspector and the prosecutor turned down her request. An informed source said, “Saada Khadirzadeh is in critical physical conditions. In addition to being pregnant, she suffers from hypertension, kidney problem, lumbar disc, and heart and nervous problems. These illnesses have made it very difficult for Ms. Khadirzadeh to endure prison conditions. According to the report of local sources, based on the certification of a specialist doctor, the lives of Saada Khadirzadeh and her 4-month fetus are in danger. The prosecutor, the inspector, and the authorities of the Central Prison of Urmia have rejected her request for conditional release even on bail, and despite medical certificate.” Saada Khadirzadeh comes from Piranshahr, in West Azerbaijan Province. She is married with two children and was one-month pregnant at the time of the arrest. https://tinyurl.com/mu5bxhx8

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The Iranian Teachers and educators held another round of their nationwide demonstrations on Sun. Jan. 16. They had similar demonstration on Thursday, January 13. They held their nationwide protests and gatherings despite massive security measures and the heavy presence of security forces and plainclothes agents. By noon, teachers reported their nationwide demonstrations from 116 cities in 30 provinces. In Tehran-the capital-, they gathered outside the regime’s parliament and in the provincial capitals, they gathered outside the general departments of education, and in smaller cities and towns they assembled outside the department of education. https://tinyurl.com/2ea422dd

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530 days have passed since political prisoner Zeinab Jalalian last contacted her family, an informed source announced on January 12. The Jalalian family and friends are extremely concerned about her conditions, holding the regime accountable for her health. Zeinab has been deprived of calling her family despite her physical and mental conditions. She has been held 530 days incommunicado, and there is no information available on her. Prison authorities have declared that nothing will change for her so long as Ms. Jalalian does not express remorse in a televised interview. Zeinab Jalalian, 38, was sentenced to death in 2009 on the charge of Moharebeh through “membership in PJAK.” The verdict was commuted to life in prison in 2011. She has been in jail without any leaves since 2007, when she was arrested in Kermanshah-Iran. The NCRI Women’s Committee National Council of Resistance of Iran, called on the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and the Special Rapporteur on human rights violations in Iran to take immediate action to save the lives of female political prisoners. https://tinyurl.com/3tm5wpyf

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On the orders of Tehran’s Prosecutor, the authorities of Evin Prison sent Aliyeh Motallebzadeh, to exile in Qarchak Prison on Monday, January 10. The women’s rights activist and photographer, Aliyeh Motallebzadeh, is the vice-president of the Association of Freedom of the Press in Iran. She began serving her sentence in Evin Prison on October 11, 2020.

Civil activist Fariba Assadi was arrested on January 2, at her home in Tehran-Iran. The authorities have now transferred her to the notorious Qarchak Prison to serve her time. Fariba and several others were arrested in February 2021 on charges of disseminating “propaganda against the state” and “membership in opposition groups.”

Student activist Leila Hosseinzadeh received a directive on January 8, which instructed her to report in to the First Branch of the Unit for the Implementation of Verdicts in Evin Courthouse to begin serving her sentence. She was given five days to do so. 

Sheneh Ahmadi, 21, who lives in Paveh, a city in Kermanshah province in Iran, had been summoned by the Court of Paveh and is presently detained in Kermanshah’s Correctional Center. https://tinyurl.com/2p8zz8df