Christian convert Mahshar Parandin, who is serving a two-year sentence in Evin Prison (pictured) on unknown charges and suffers from serious medical issues, has at last been granted a ten-day furlough.

Previously she was repeatedly denied treatment and medical leave despite suffering from medical conditions that have affected her balance, mobility and speech. She was granted the short leave from prison on Saturday 17 October after a salary slip was deposited as bail.

Mahshar is an artist in her 50s and is a widow with a teenage son who suffers from a chronic illness. She is reported to be her family’s primary breadwinner.

Article18 reported in June that Mahshar continued to be denied treatment even after the prison doctor said she needed a cardiac angiogram and surgery for two tumours that had continued to grow during her imprisonment and put her at risk of losing the sight in one eye.

Denial of medical care to prisoners is one of the rights violations regularly referenced in reports of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran.

Mahshar has served more than half her sentence and should be eligible for parole, but the prosecutor has rejected her request for conditional release.

In August the Iranian lawyer and Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi drew attention to Mahshar’s case, writing on Telegram that although no photo had been published, “we must not allow her anonymity… to cause her life itself to remain hidden from view. This obscurity must not cause her story to be lost amidst the overwhelming volume of other news. Let us remember her name – even if we do not yet know her face.”

(Article 18)

Photo credit: Wikipedia/Eshan Iran