Christian woman back in Iran prison after temporary release on health grounds

Chiqui Guyjoco Monday, July 04, 2016

A jailed Christian woman in Iran is back behind bars after authorities refused to grant her leave extension despite her medical treatment still halfway to go.

Maryam Naghash Zargaran returned June 27 to Evin prison, the country's most notorious jailhouse, to complete her four-year sentence after authorities refused to grant an extension to her medical leave. They even threatened to seize the title deed used as her bail if she stayed any longer, said a report by Mohabat News.

"Her mother went to the court on Sunday asking for an extension to her leave, but they refused. She was told her daughter has stayed out of prison beyond her leave and needs to return to prison today," a separate report quoted an unnamed source close to the Zargaran family as saying.

The Iranian government granted the ailing Christian woman a temporary leave on health grounds on June 6 after she had spent 11 days on hunger strike to protest the authorities' refusal to grant her much-needed medical treatment. Aside from her heart condition of Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), she also complained of numbness in the hands and feet as well as pain in her joints and spinal column.

"She got time from prison but there is still a high possibility they will have to take her back after a week or so," Pastor Saeed Abedini wrote on a Facebook post a day after Zargaran's temporary release from prison.

Abedini added his thoughts then, "I think they allowed this to shut down the news."

"I saw her, and she looks like she is just one step from death," wrote Abedini, the pastor with a Muslim background.

Abedini started the Saeed Ministries and referred to Zargaran in a previous post as one of the first women to become Christian after his own sisters. He also said that Zargaran had helped him build churches even before he became a pastor. When the Iranian authorities imprisoned members of the Saeed Ministries, Zargaran chose to serve her prison sentence even after she managed to escape to Turkey.