Second Evin Prison Recording Alleges US Detainee Denied Chemotherapy

What is established is provenance and timing. On August 7, 2026, CBS News published a second audio recording from inside Evin Prison sent by detained U.S. journalist Reza Valizadeh to Brennan⁠2⁠9⁠7. It was his first communication since June, and, per his attorney Ryan Fayhee, he wanted the statement made public⁠2⁠9⁠7. The broadcast aired August 8, 2026⁠6. The sources confirm only two recordings, on June 5 and August 7, 2026, and document no outcomes or official statements beyond their publication⁠5⁠10⁠2.

The name at the center of the chemotherapy allegation is spelled differently across the available accounts, and the accounts disagree. The video caption renders it as Karan Hakmati, while VOA Persian and CRBC use Kamran Hekmati and Komran Hekmati⁠3⁠6. This article uses Kamran Hekmati, following the research file, without treating one transliteration as settled while the sources differ⁠3⁠6.

The most consequential claim is that Hekmati, who has cancer, was released for a period but was re-arrested before starting chemotherapy, so the treatment was effectively denied⁠6⁠3. The recording frames that interruption not as a scheduling delay but as custody itself preventing the start of cancer care⁠6⁠3. That allegation comes solely from Valizadeh's recording and is unverified in the available evidence, with no medical records, independent examination, or official account to test it against⁠2⁠3⁠6. Whether authorities will verify Hekmati's condition and restore access to chemotherapy remains unresolved⁠2⁠3⁠6.

The recording places that individual claim inside a broader allegation of systemic failure. Medical services in Evin Prison have been almost nonexistent for over a year, with only the most basic medications available, according to the recording⁠2⁠11. The phrase almost nonexistent is Valizadeh's characterization, not an independent medical audit, and it too is unverified⁠2⁠11. If care is as limited as alleged, chronically ill prisoners would face progression of treatable disease inside a closed facility where outside supply and specialist access are constrained⁠2⁠11.

Medicines purchased and sent by prisoners' families are allegedly stolen by prison staff before reaching inmates, the recording says⁠3. That allegation matters because family supply is often the fallback when a prison pharmacy is thin, and interception would sever the last outside supply chain for people who cannot obtain even basic drugs internally⁠3. Like the chemotherapy claim, the theft allegation comes solely from Valizadeh's recording, with no independent confirmation or official response in the available evidence⁠3.

The recording also alleges that tuberculosis has returned among inmates and that prisoners who complain about conditions are deprived of family contact⁠3⁠11. The return of tuberculosis, if true, would signal crowding, poor ventilation, and failed infection control layered onto already limited care, raising risk not only for the sick but for the general population held with them⁠3⁠11. The alleged link between complaint and loss of contact would further isolate the people most likely to report illness, leaving outside families and advocates without timely information⁠3⁠11. Both points are unverified and rest solely on the recording⁠3⁠11.

Valizadeh ties the contact allegation to his own case. His family visits have been blocked for five months, which he believes is punishment⁠4. That five-month gap is both a personal hardship claim and, in his account, evidence for how deprivation of family contact functions as retaliation⁠4. It is reported as his belief, not as a confirmed prison order, and no official explanation appears in the available evidence⁠4.

Brennan's reporting provides the wider count that frames the case. She reported that there are currently five U.S. citizens detained in Iran, with two held at Evin Prison⁠6⁠7⁠9. That count is the reason the second recording carries beyond one man's voice memo, because it suggests at least one other American is held in the same facility where care is described as almost nonexistent and family medicines are said not to arrive⁠6⁠7⁠9. The sources do not identify the other detainees beyond Valizadeh and Hekmati in the material reviewed⁠6⁠7⁠9.

The earlier recording helps show what Valizadeh has asked for. In his first recording on June 5, 2026, he pleaded for medical help for himself and other American captives⁠5. In that plea he said that even if treating diseases was a large demand, Iranian authorities could at least reduce some of the physical pressure and mental strain of captivity⁠5. The August recording extends that plea from general conditions to a named fellow prisoner and a specific treatment said to have been denied before it began⁠6⁠3.

No independent confirmation, medical verification, or official response from U.S. or Iranian authorities appears in the available evidence⁠2⁠3⁠6. That absence defines the limits of what a reader can take from the story now: provenance is documented, the allegations are detailed, but their truth, the current health of Hekmati and Valizadeh, and any state action to verify or treat them are not⁠2⁠3⁠6. No outcomes or official statements are documented in the sources reviewed⁠5⁠10⁠2.