A 29-year-old Iranian inmate at Fuchu Prison has requested the Tokyo High Public Prosecutor's Office suspend his jail term so he can receive treatment for anorexia, his lawyers said Thursday.
Lawyer Tadao Uemoto told reporters that Saeid Pilehvar's life is at risk because of the illness, adding that he has dropped to 48 kg from the 78 kg he weighed at the time of his July 1995 arrest.
Pilehvar was convicted of robbery and assault in November 1995 and is serving a six-year prison term at Fuchu Prison. Prosecution authorities can suspend a convict's jail term if the inmate is seriously ill or has some other compelling reason.
Pilehvar began suffering from anorexia in August 1997, after authorities forcibly administered an intravenous injection into his nose, Uemoto said. The injection was made after Pilehvar staged a hunger strike to protest an earlier tiff with prison officials, he added.
The Iranian's lawyers said this is the second time they have requested the prosecutor's office to suspend his term. An earlier request made in March was rejected in April, and Pilehvar has continued to lose weight, they said.