Iranian Christian woman thrown back in prison despite not completing urgent medical treatment

Iranian Christian convert Maryam Naghash Zargaran was temporarily released on medical furlough, but was called back to prison before her treatment was finished.

Zargaran had been told that the prison's clinic does not have the capacity to give her the treatment she needed. She filed for a medical leave and went on an 11-day hunger strike in protest of authorities' refusal to allow her a medical leave.

On June 6, her request was finally granted after her family deposited a surety bond of $100,000.

However, while she was still in the middle of treatment, authorities ordered her to go back to Evin Prison in Tehran. Her family went to the prosecutor's office to appeal for an extension of her medical leave but it was denied.

The prosecutor further told Zargaran's family that the surety bond they deposited would be forfeited if she would not go back to prison.

Zargaran's family decided it didn't matter if the bond would be seized as long as she received proper medical treatment. However, when her condition began to improve on the weekend of June 25 to 26, Zargaran herself decided to return behind bars.

"She was going against her family's wishes and her own wishes. She decided it was the right course of action for her family," Rob Duncan, Middle East Concern's regional manager for Iran, said, according to Morning Star News.

Duncan said she went back to prison smiling, an act that he considered to be "very brave."

Zargaran was imprisoned in 2013 because of her involvement in the orphanage of formerly incarcerated American pastor Saeed Abedini. She was falsely accused of threatening national security, according to Release International.

Zargaran suffers from a congenital heart condition called atrial septal defect. She went through surgery years ago, but conditions in Evin Prison have caused her health to worsen. She is presently serving a four-year prison term.