Written by Amen Dilawar

Three women died within nine days in Qarchak Prison, a women’s facility outside Tehran that human rights organizations have continuously condemned for its inhumane conditions. Soudabeh Asadi, Jamile Azizi, and Somayeh Rashidi all died between September 16 and 25, 2025, after authorities denied them medical care, according to Human Rights Watch. 

“Prisons in Iran, especially Qarchak, have become places of torment and death where prisoners’ dignity and basic rights are systematically ignored,” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, in an October 2025 statement. “For decades, the authorities have not only failed to improve conditions but have deliberately used the denial of even the most basic rights, such as access to medical care, as a tool of repression and punishment against prisoners.” 

Qarchak, also known as Shahr-e Rey Prison, has become unfit for human habitation. Reports describe overcrowded cells, poor sanitation, contaminated water, and an almost complete lack of access to doctors or medications. The  United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Mandela Rules) require all states to provide adequate medical care to those in detention, yet Iranian authorities have repeatedly failed to meet these standards.

Among the three women, Rashidi’s case illustrates how deliberate medical neglect can lead to a death sentence. According to Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA), a U.S.-based rights group, Rashidi was arrested in April 2025 for writing protest slogans in Tehran. After an Israeli airstrike on Evin Prison on June 23 damaged key facilities, Rashidi was among several detainees transferred to Qarchak’s quarantine section.

HRANA reported that Rashidi’s health deteriorated over the following months, and she was sometimes unable to walk or care for herself. However, authorities denied her proper medical attention. On September 15, when she became too ill to stand, other prisoners carried her to the prison clinic. Prison administrators accused her of faking her illness, and she was not hospitalized until she suffered a seizure. She died ten days later on September 25, in Mofatteh Hospital in Varamin. 

Doctors later identified her delayed hospitalization as the main cause of her irreversible decline, HRANA reported. The judiciary’s official news agency, Mizan, documented the death of a prisoner identified as “S.R.,” but claimed she had a history of drug use and neurological disorders and had received appropriate care. Human Rights Watch called this response consistent with a long-standing pattern of denial, distortion, and evasion of responsibility.

The deaths of Asadi and Azizi were similar as well. HRANA reported that Asadi, who was imprisoned on financial charges, died on September 16 after prison authorities delayed transferring her to a hospital. Three days later, Azizi, detained on charges unknown to Human Rights Watch, was taken to the prison clinic with symptoms of a heart attack. Doctors told her there was nothing wrong and sent her back to her cell where she died shortly afterward, HRANA said.

A former prisoner told Human Rights Watch that she too was denied treatment despite excruciating chest pain. Prison medical staff ignored her symptoms and intentionally delayed her transfer to an external hospital. “They [authorities] expose us all [prisoners] to death,” she said.

Likewise, it’s imperative to note that, in an April 2022 report, Amnesty International documented dozens of deaths in custody in at least 30 Iranian prisons since 2010, which were caused by denial of medical care. Many of these cases, Amnesty said, involve prisoners detained for ordinary offenses or belonging to marginalized communities and go unreported due to fear of reprisals.

This also applies to the Evin prison. On October 9, authorities transferred several women political prisoners from Qarchak to Ward Six of Evin Prison, according to Human Rights Watch. Activists report that they are being held in poor conditions without access to essential medical services. The situation remains dire because Israel’s June airstrikes on Evin destroyed vital facilities, including the clinic and visitation hall.

Earlier this year, the Center for Human Rights in Iran reported that several detainees, including Anvar Chaleshi, Bahram Darvishi, and Farzaneh Bijanipour, died after officials ignored urgent medical needs. The case of Hossein Ronaghi, a journalist who lost kidney function after repeated refusals of hospital care, drew national outrage before his release in 2023. Trade unionist Reza Shahabi was denied spinal surgery for years despite warnings from doctors that paralysis was imminent. 

Other prisoners requiring urgent medical care include Warisha Moradi, a Kurdish political prisoner and women’s rights activist on death row in Evin Prison, and Zeynab Jalalian, another Kurdish activist serving a life sentence. Neither of them have adequate access to treatment or medical care. 

International law requires states to investigate deaths in custody and ensure that prisoners have access to proper healthcare. Iran has overlooked those obligations for years. Officials rarely conduct investigations and usually release short statements blaming deaths on drug use or suicide. This culture of denial allows neglect to continue unhindered. 

Hence, this depicts what happens when medicine is stripped of its humanity and morality. In Iran’s prisons, access to a doctor has become a privilege granted to the obedient, not a right guaranteed to the living. Even one’s body belongs to the state. For the women inside Qarchak, their names have already joined a growing list of prisoners who died inside Iranian jails because the system refused to see them as human.

Edited by Finn Chao