A/HRC/34/40 concerning the recommendations it received during the second cycle of the universal periodic review in relation to such practices and to outlaw them as a matter of priority. Access to adequate health care for people in detention 28. Since June 2016, an increasing number of cases of denial of medical care attributed to the Prosecutor’s Office or the prison administration have been reported. In many cases, denial, discontinuation and withholding of medication and treatment, as well as denial of release on medical grounds, were reported as intentional acts to intimidate and punish political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, or to extract forced confessions or statements of “repentance” from them. Between July and December 2016, at least 15 such cases were reported.9 29. In April, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an opinion on the arbitrary nature of the arrest and detention of Zeinab Jalalian and requested the authorities to release her immediately. 10 The Working Group observed that she had been denied transfer to a hospital for urgently needed eye surgery and that the Government had not refuted allegations that she was repeatedly tortured, deprived of adequate medical treatment and forced to receive injections. At the end of 2016, Ms. Jalalian was still in detention and had reportedly not yet received medical care. 30. In July, the Office of the Prosecutor reportedly refused to consider an alternative sentence for Hossein Ronaghi Maleki, a blogger who had been sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment for his blog, although the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization had declared in a written statement that he was not fit to serve time in prison. 11 31. In October, Akbari Monfared, who was serving a 15-year prison sentence in relation to her alleged membership of the banned opposition group known as the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, was reportedly denied medical treatment after publishing a letter demanding justice for her brothers and sisters who were reportedly executed in 1988. 32. Several human rights defenders currently in detention, including Narges Mohammadi, Arash Sadeghi and Ali Shariati, were also denied medical treatment. At the time of writing of the present report, Mr. Sadeghi and Mr. Shariati were consequently still at risk of death or irreversible damage to their health. Several journalists have also been denied medical care, including Issa Sahrkhiz and Afarin Chitsaz. 33. The Secretary-General observes that depriving prisoners of medical care and putting their life at risk is a well-documented pattern in the Islamic Republic of Iran. He recalls that access to health care for prisoners is a right enshrined in both international and Iranian law and that depriving a prisoner of medical care often causes severe pain or suffering. When health care is denied as a form of punishment, intimidation or to extract a forced confession, it constitutes torture. The Secretary-General calls on the authorities to investigate all cases of denial of medical care, to take firm action against the perpetrators and to provide redress and rehabilitation to the victims. Torture and ill-treatment upon arrest and in detention facilities 34. Other forms of ill-treatment of prisoners, such as the widespread use of solitary confinement and incommunicado detention, and the denial of the right to family visits (including contact with children), continue to be reported. An analysis of the 33 communications sent by special procedure mandate holders to the Government in 2016 shows that half the individuals covered by those communications were subjected to solitary confinement. 9 10 11 6 See Amnesty International, “Health taken hostage. Cruel denial of medical care in Iran’s prisons” (2016). www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde13/4196/2016/en. See opinion No. 1/2016. Article 502 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that if there is no prospect of recovery and the judge overseeing implementation of sentences is satisfied that the convicted person is unfit to serve the sentence, the judge shall refer the case to the court that originally issued the sentence to issue an alternative, appropriate sentence.