Coronavirus has spread like wildfire through Iranian prisons, and the regime has done little if anything to stop it. Temporary furloughs that were extended earlier this year did not apply to political prisoners, leading some human rights activists (and the MEK) to speculate that the regime hoped that if no precautions were taken, the coronavirus would simply kill off political prisoners.

The  People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) published an account of the Iranian regime’s human rights abuses during the month of November. The data for the report was collected from (PMOI / MEK Iran) sources inside Iran, activist investigations, and state-run media reports. The following is a summary of their findings.

Executions

• Total numbers of executions: at least 8
• Charges: murder, drug transportation, and storage
• Age range: between 26 and 62 years of age

Arrests

• Total number of arrests: approximately 260
• Total number of arrests for protest-related activities: approximately 50
• Free speech charges include:
  • participating in protests;
  • supporting the MEK;
  • calling for protests;
  • participating in labor gatherings;
  • cooperating with Kurdish parties;
  • using social media in an unacceptable manner; and
  • spreading ‘rumor and insult’ against judicial officials.
• Additional charges include:
  • Hunters arrested on security charges;
  • Kurdish citizens detained for cultural activities;
  • a bodybuilder arrested for criticizing authorities after posting a story about gym closures on his Instagram page; and
  • a woman arrested for writing a letter to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei asking him to resign.

Torture

Torture is commonplace in Iranian prisons and detention centers. These are a few of the most egregious examples from November.

• A 22-year-old man in Shiraz Adilabad Prison was raped by three inmates hired by the prison’s intelligence bureau.
• A 30-year-old inmate in Ahvaz Sheiban Prison died after guards failed to seek timely medical attention for him.
• Authorities in Urmia Central Prison have refused to free Hojjat Kazamnejad despite the completion of his sentence. Kazemnejad glued his lips together and embarked on a hunger strike in protest of the disregard for his rights.
• Officials at the Greater Tehran Penitentiary claim they haven’t received warm clothes from inmates’ families and are forcing prisoners to buy clothes and heaters from a private company at inflated prices.
• Hojjat Kazamnejad self-immolated in protest of conditions at Urmia Central Prison after being denied release after the completion of his sentence.
• Almost 900 inmates rioted after Kazamnejad’s death. Prison guards fired rubber bullets into the crowd and beat inmates into submission, injuring 35. Twenty inmates were transferred to solitary confinement and six were taken by interrogators to be tortured and prosecuted.

Arbitrary Murder

Border guards, SSF, and the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) agents targeted and killed mostly religious and ethnic minority citizens in several provinces. Most of the victims were porters working in the poorest provinces doing the only work available to them.

• West Azerbaijan Province: border guards shot and killed five porters and injured several others.
• Kurdistan Province: an anti-trafficking unit shot a taxi driver while his vehicle was stopped. The driver later died from his injuries in a hospital. Border guards shot and killed another man later that month.
• Sistan and Baluchistan Province: border guards shot a Baluch citizen at the Iran-Pakistan border.

Coronavirus in Prisons

Coronavirus has spread like wildfire through Iranian prisons, and the regime has done little if anything to stop it. Temporary furloughs that were extended earlier this year did not apply to political prisoners, leading some human rights activists (and the MEK) to speculate that the regime hoped that if no precautions were taken, the coronavirus would simply kill off political prisoners. Nothing so far has disproved this theory. Over 1801,600 people have died of the coronavirus in Iran, according to reports tallied by the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

• Urmia Central Prison: 120 prisoners have coronavirus-like symptoms, but patients have not received adequate medical care, and no action has been taken to prevent the spread of infection.
• Greater Tehran Penitentiary: 20 detainees from the November 2019 Uprisings are very ill with coronavirus and confined in Salon 9 of Ward 2. Guards have closed doors, cut fresh air time, and eliminated inmate communication and phone time in an effort to prevent the outside world from learning of their condition.
• Sanandaj Prison: Coronavirus has spread throughout the inmate population and infected the clinic staff and prison officials as well. Inmates have been denied adequate health facilities.
• Evin Prison: Conditions are critical, with at least seven prisoner deaths reported in November.
• Mashhad Prison: A number of inmates in Wards One and Two have coronavirus, but they only have access to medication for severe headaches and high fever.

Coronavirus, or COVID-19, has occurred in a number of the regime’s prisons and is being largely ignored by prison officials. Among those affected by the outbreaks are Fashafouieh, Gohardasht, Evin, Karaj Markazi, Central Karaj, Ghezel-Hesar, Urmia, Shiban-Ahvaz, and Kashan prisons.

and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouTube