Amnesty International is calling on Iran to release two dual nationals who have been behind bars for more than a year for peacefully exercising their human rights.
German-Iranian Nahid Taghavi and British-Iranian Mehran Raouf were detained in Tehran's Evin prison in October 2020 and held in prolonged solitary confinement.
In August this year, a Revolutionary Court sentenced them to 10 years and eight months in prison on national-security-related charges following what Amnesty International called a "grossly unfair trial."
Both have denied the accusations.
Amnesty said on November 5 that the 67-year-old Taghavi was suffering chronic back pain and had been denied surgery on her spine that specialist doctors said she urgently requires.
Raouf, 64, has been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, including being held in a room with the lights on 24 hours a day, Amnesty said.
The London-based human rights watchdog urged supporters to take action in support of the two prisoners of conscience and write a letter to Iranian judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejehi saying they should be immediately and unconditionally freed.
Pending their release, Taghavi and Raouf should be provided adequate health care and granted access to lawyers and family, as well as to consular assistance, it said.
According to Amnesty International, both were detained solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association, including supporting workers' and women's rights.