Iran: Simultaneous With the Uprising, the Inhumane Pressure Against Political Prisoners Intensify

The clerical regime, angry at political prisoners for supporting the uprising of the Iranian people, has intensified brutal and inhumane pressures against them in order to intimidate the youth and escalate the atmosphere of fear and terror:

1. Inmates of Hall 10 in Section 4 of Gohardasht Prison, Karaj, are in dire conditions. The prisoners were transferred from Hall 12 to this hall, which has very difficult conditions, six months ago with brutal beating. With the destruction of the medical records of prisoners and preventing them from being transported to a hospital or even a prison clinic, the henchmen intend to kill them with slow death.

Arash Sadeqi, who has been on hunger strike since January 25, is in critical condition. He suffers from various illnesses due to his earlier 70-day hunger strike and is in dire conditions. The henchmen have deprived him of the minimum necessary medical care.

Majid Assadi is suffering from a variety of diseases, including gastric tumors, with unbearable pain, and Hassan Sadeghi is at risk of tearing his eyes’ veins and blindness due to the blows that the torturers inflicted on his head and his eyes.

2. For the purpose of intensifying the pressure on the prisoners in Hall 10 of Ward 4 of Gohardasht Prison, the henchmen have filed new charges against seven of them including Saeed Masoori, Hassan Sadeghi, Amir Ghaziani, Jafar Aghdami, Abolghasem Fouladvand, Saeed Shirzad and Ibrahim Firouzi under the pretext of chanting slogans against Khamenei and disruption in the prison.

3. The prisoners of the same section suffer from the lack of heating equipment, hot water for bathing, lack of ventilation, poor nutrition and sanitation, a ban on fresh air breaks and the ban on purchasing food from the prison shop in the cold winter. The henchmen continue to refuse to return the looted goods to the detainees during their transfer.

4. Hamzeh Darvish, a 23-year-old Sunni prisoner, who is ill and in need of medical care, was brutally taken to the quarantine facility of Gohardasht Prison from Hall 10 of Ward 4 of this prison on January 31.

5. Ramin and Afshin Hossein Panahi, Kurdish political prisoners who have been on hunger strike in Sanandaj prison since January 27, were transferred to solitary confinement on January 31. Ramin Hossein Panahi has been sentenced to death. His brother, Afshin, was arrested after arresting his brother Ramin and was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison on charges of propaganda against the regime and participation in the celebration of the New Year. The 78-year-old father of the two prisoners, in protest to the cruel sentences against his children and in solidarity with them, despite his age and illness, has gone on hunger strike.

6. The fate of the political prisoner Mehdi Farahi Shandiz, who was transferred to the solitary confinement of Centra Karaj prison, on January 7, by the order of the head henchman Shahravi, the so-called “Karaj court” judge, charged with chanting “Death to Khamenei”, is unknown. Torturer Moghisseh has told his family that he would not be transferred from solitary confinement to the general ward.

7. Atena Daemi and Golrokh Iraee, two female political prisoners who were transferred to the Qarchak prison in Varamin after being charged with a new conspiracy and prosecution on January 24, are in this prison that is called (notorious) Kahrizak II and is a death camp without any facilities and personal belongings in a very difficult situation. In this prison, which consists of several warehouses, they do not have the minimum facilities for rest in the cold winter.

Their health is also at risk due to the high number of addicts and prisoners with dangerous diseases. In response to frequent requests from their families, the henchmen have said they would not return them to Evin.

8. Political prisoner Soheil Arabi was transferred to Tehran’s Grand Prison from Evin Prison on Monday January 29. Upon his arrival in prison, scores of torturers undressed him on the sixth day of his hunger strike and brutally attacked him, and while he was wounded and bloody, they kept him in a cold weather without clothes outside of the prison to force him to get his consent on these tortures and brutal behavior. They destroyed all his personal belongings and books.

Soheil Arabi, a 32-year-old blogger and photographer, has been on hunger strike since January 24 to protest the beating of Atena Daemi and Golrokh Iraee and their transfer to Qarchak Prison of Varamin. In a message he wrote, “I give my life to people who die to wake us up. I give my life but now I am in prison and have no other choice than hunger strike to protest the torturers and the henchmen … We live only once and no threat and torture should threaten us from living well … I stand with hands tied until the freedom of Arash; Majid; Golrokh and all our friends.”

9. Mohammad Saber Malek Raeesi, a Sunni Baluch prisoner who was deported to Ardebil Prison, faces various diseases, including digestive problems, following his 39-day hunger strike. But torturer, which carries the doctor’s role in prison, told him: “I will not visit you. You should not have gone on hunger strike. You should have thought about the consequences of this before strike.”

10. Political prisoner Arzhang Davoudi, 64, who is in exile in Zahedan Prison, is deprived of medical treatment despite having diabetes.

The Iranian Resistance calls on all international human rights bodies, in particular the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, the rapporteurs on the arbitrary arrests, torture and the right to life, to take immediate and effective measure to address the situation of political prisoners and their unconditional release, as well as the release of the brave children of the people of Iran, who were arrested during the January uprising.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran