Female Iranian activist dies from gunshot wounds sustained in 2022 protests

Sara Deldar, a former political prisoner, has died due to multiple infections caused by pellet wounds sustained during the 2022 nationwide protests after being shot by Iranian security forces.

After her arrest, Deldar was sentenced to more than one year in Rasht’s Lakan Prison, among thousands arrested in a mass roundup of opponents to the government. She was released on parole after serving more than six months, but her health was already deteriorating.

In her final Instagram post in July, Deldar described her severe ill health after her release citing infections, anemia, and the enlargement of her spleen, kidneys, and ovaries. The ailments were likely exacerbated by the bad treatment and conditions of her imprisonment where prisoners are often denied access to adequate healthcare.

Deldar also revealed that other prisoners released from Lakan Prison were suffering from similar illnesses.

Sara Deldar’s death is not an isolated incident. For over four decades, Iran’s prisons have become a graveyard for political prisoners and those who dare to defy the regime.

Many others have committed suicide either in detention or shortly after their release, often as a result of the brutal physical and psychological abuse they endure behind bars. In the last few months alone, several political prisoners have taken their own lives, unable to cope with the trauma inflicted by the state’s torturers.