Australian dies in Iran jail after prison 'torture': Amnesty

An Australian-Iranian national in his eighties jailed over a financial dispute has died in prison in Iran, Amnesty International said on Monday, accusing Tehran of subjecting him to torture by denying urgent medical care.

Shokrollah Jebeli, 82, who had been incarcerated in Tehran's Evin prison since January 2020, died on Sunday after being taken from prison to hospital the previous day, Amnesty said.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) confirmed that Jebeli held dual nationality and had died.

Amnesty said in a statement to AFP that his death represented an "arbitrary deprivation of life given the Iranian authorities' deliberate denial of healthcare and their refusal to release him on medical grounds."

It said Jebeli had been subjected to "more than two years of torture" due to denial of adequate healthcare, including deprivation of medication.

Amnesty has said Jebeli was facing two separate cases in relation to financial dispute claims brought by several plaintiffs. 

He was sentenced to four years and six months in prison in one case, while the second is ongoing, it said.

Amnesty said earlier this month that he was suffering from a litany of medical conditions including enlarged kidney stones, a history of strokes, sciatica in his legs, high blood pressure, and an umbilical hernia.

Warning his life was at risk, it said on March 14 that the Iranian authorities were torturing him "by deliberately denying him adequate specialised medical care and withholding medication."

DFAT said Iran had refused to accept Jebeli's Australian citizenship as well as "Australia's right to consular access".

It said the Australian government had "repeatedly sought his release on compassionate and humanitarian grounds given his age, underlying infirmities and his illness."

There has been growing concern among activists over the conditions in Iranian jails, particularly after Iranian poet and filmmaker Baktash Abtin died in detention in Tehran in January after falling ill with Covid-19.

Amnesty International in September published a study accusing Iran of failing to provide accountability for at least 72 deaths in custody since January 2010.

"The devastating death of Shokrollah Jebeli highlights a pattern of human rights violations in Iran where we see deaths following the deliberate denial of healthcare again and again in the country's prisons," Amnesty said.

It accused Iran of showing "systematic impunity" in such cases and reaffirmed a call on the UN to set up an investigative mechanism to ensure accountability.