Update About Brother Alireza Seyyedian

We received this report from an Iranian source. It is sad news regarding our brother, Alireza Seyyedian. Please remember him in prayer. He is facing a difficult time and he needs the body of Christ to unite in prayer for his deliverance from this.

Source: BBC Persia

March 2014

Translated by Peygham.net translation team

Political Prisoners and the Risk of Red, White, and Blue Pills

Alireza is the most recent victim of a painful and stressful imprisonment. He was convicted because of converting to Christianity in the Revolutionary Court of Iran and has been penalized to a long prison sentence.

Finally, after two years, in late January he had the opportunity to go home, but only for three days. His family had tried hard to get permission for these few days off. They had hoped this release period would be extended and Alireza could stay with them for more than just a few days. But now two weeks have passed and they are more concerned than ever.

Alireza returned home but with a blank stare, trembling hands, and symptoms of psychosis.

His mother tells that when she saw him, she realized that his mood has changed. When his brother saw Alireza, he wondered ishe a human or a robot? From the second day he started having seizures and vomiting. His hands began shaking and sometimes his whole body was trembling violently.

In the winter of 2011, Alireza was sent to Evin prison with a six years sentence. He was young, good-tempered, and healthy when he went in.

At that time, he was not on any medication. But when he returned home he was using a lot of pills. Alireza wasn’t that smiling and happy person he was before entering the prison.

To Resorts to Sleeping Pills

Among the negative effects of prison is acute depression. Stress and pressure caused by long-term imprisonment, unpleasant (unsanitary?) conditions of the illegal incarceration at  Evin prison (section 350), has had a profound effect on the psyche of the prisoners. In such circumstances, some of the prisoners have taken refuge in tranquilizer pills. Alireza talks about why he started taking those pills and says, “I just wanted the days in prison to pass quickly. A year after my imprisonment, gradually I felt that I could not live much longer. I couldn’t sleep at nights and I used to walkthe corridors andthink. At last I lost my stamina and asked the other prisonerswhat pills to take and they gave a list of medicines to me. Once a month I went to the clinic and took a high dose. First it started with three pills a day, and then reached to seven or more.”

Three doctors would go to section 350 to examine the prisoners. For those with good behavior, the doctors would prescribe any drug the prisoners asked for. Theprisoners were warned about the negative effects of such drugs, however nerve medicines such as Clonazepam, Alprazolam, Clonidine, Imipramine and Largaktyl, were all available to the prisoners.

Alireza says, “I had very strong drugs in prison. Something has happened to me and I don’t know
how long I will suffer the effects of them. Nobody told me anything about the side effects of those pills, just that they are addictive. I tried them, and I can say they were wrong, but I am sure I experienced something more than addiction. ”

When Alireza, returned to prison, he couldn’t take the drugs with him which were prescribed by doctors outside of the prison. Of course the sedative effects of those pills from inside of the prison were so terrifying to him that he was reluctant to take any medication. He says, “I took those drugs for about a year until the negative effects of the drugs were really bothering me. I had just decided to discontinue taking those drugs when they let me leave prison for a few days. The first two days I didn’t take any pills and I didn’t have any problem. But then tremors and anxiety and insomnia began again.”

He had anxiety and worries for now reason that deeply affected him even causing diarrhea. “Even little things such as a ringing phone or visiting relatives was like a nightmare for me. I couldn’t even meet with my friends”

Alireza was hospitalized for four days in Imam Khomeini hospital, and although doctors believed that he should have stayed longer in the hospital, because of his insistence he was allowed to go home. He didn’t want to spend this precious time out of prison in a hospital. Last Saturday, the prosecutor refused to extend his release, so he was returned to the prison.

[by: Hesam Shirazi (journalist)]