Mehdi Meskinnavaz, political prisoner in Rasht's Lakan prison, denied treatment for two years

Mehdi Meskinnavaz, a 47-year-old civil activist and political prisoner from Bandar Anzali, has been denied proper treatment for more than two years in Rasht's Lakan prison. Prison officials have labelled his condition "non-emergency", and his transfers to medical centres outside the prison have effectively stopped.

According to a note he published on his personal page and a report released on Sunday, 18 October 2026, by HRANA, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, the political prisoner needs surgery to replace his kneecap and suffers from a slipped disc and severe knee pain. He was also burned during his imprisonment in Evin prison, and because his treatment was left unfinished, he now faces skin adhesion and a wound.

A file that never reached Rasht

One of the main problems is the prisoner's repeated transfers. Mehdi Meskinnavaz was moved to Bandar Anzali prison on 7 September 2024 to serve his sentence, and in March 2026 he was sent to Lakan prison in Rasht for no clear reason. His medical and judicial file, however, has still not been transferred from Tehran to Rasht, and missed medical appointments have made continued treatment impossible.

His request for conditional release was also rejected, according to those close to him, because of the opposition of the judicial officer, even though he has served more than a third of his sentence.

Background of Mehdi Meskinnavaz's case

Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, headed by Judge Iman Afshari, sentenced the civil activist in July 2023 to 10 years in prison on the charge of "forming a group with the intent to disrupt national security" and to one year on the charge of "propaganda against the system", along with a ban on residing in Tehran province and neighbouring provinces and a two-year travel ban. In January 2025, the Supreme Court accepted his request for a retrial, and in April 2025 Branch 21 of the Tehran Provincial Court of Appeals reduced the sentence to five years and six months in prison.

The denial of treatment to political prisoners in the Islamic Republic's prisons is a recurring pattern, from Hamid Gharehhasanlou, an imprisoned doctor whose left lung has failed to Kazem Alinejad Baranlou, who went on a dry hunger strike in protest at being denied treatment.

With an injured knee, a slipped disc and burn wounds, Mehdi Meskinnavaz has been waiting for treatment in prison for two years.