(NCRI) and (PMOI / MEK Iran): Violence against Women in Prisons.

The Iranian regime has escalated its campaign of violence against female prisoners, according to the latest report from the National Council of Resistance of Iran’s (NCRI) Women’s Committee. The December 2020 report describes inhumane conditions inside the regime’s prisons as well as intimidation, brutal sentences, deprivation of rights, and physical and psychological abuse of incarcerated women in Iran. The following is a summary of some of the regime’s most egregious offenses against female prisoners during the month of December 2020, according to the reports by  the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran). supporters networks inside Iran.

Executions

The Iranian regime executed two women in December. An unidentified woman was hanged in mid-December in Sepidar Prison in Ahvaz. Zeinab Khodamoradi was hanged on December 27 in Sanandaj’s Central Prison.

Raid on Political Prisoners

MEK supporters from Tehran reported that the prison authorities and guards in Qarchak Prison raided female political prisoners in Ward 8 on December 13 with batons and stun guns. The two dozen regime henchmen injured several inmates, including one sick woman who was under a doctor’s care. None of the injured women were provided medical treatment after the raid.

Denial of Medical Treatment

MEK supporters from Ahvaz reported that the political prisoner Makkieh Neissi died in Sepidar Prison on the morning of Tuesday, December 15 after prison officials refused her desperate cries to be transferred to a hospital the night before. Instead, guards denied her any medical care and moved her to the quarantine ward, where she was left to die.

A specialist at Kachua Prison ordered an urgent medical test for political prisoner Monireh Arabshahi on December 13 to determine the cause of her swollen throat, which is obstructing her breathing. The doctor ordered the test to be performed within 48 hours, but prison officials postponed it for five days. The results indicate that Ms. Arabshahi needs surgery and a thyroid scan. Ms. Arabshahi is serving a 5 year, 6-month sentence for protesting the regime’s compulsory veil law.

Kurdish political prisoner Somayyeh Kargar has been denied access to urgently needed medication. She is currently imprisoned in Ward 209 of Evin Prison, which is typically reserved for political prisoners. Ms. Kargar is at risk of losing her vision without her medication.

62-year-old political prisoner Nejat Anvar Hamidi Karoun has been denied medical leave for treatment of a number of severe conditions, including thyroid malfunction, hypertension, high blood lipids, and eye disease. Ms. Karoun is previously imprisoned in the 1980s for her support of the MEK and was rearrested in 2018 and sentenced to an additional 15 years. Membership in or support of the MEK is illegal in Iran.

COVID-19 has spread in prisons across the country

More than 196,900 people have lost their lives due to COVID-19, which has spread in Iran, especially in prisons across the country, reported by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the  People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran).

Imprisoned nurse Bahareh Soleimani suffered severe lung damage after contracting Covid-19 while working with coronavirus patients. She has been detained in solitary confinement at Evin Prison for two months, where she is being denied medical treatment. Ms. Soleimani has not been tried or convicted of a crime.

Political prisoner Massoumeh Asgari was given a certificate for conditional medical release on December 20 but has been denied release from Evin Prison. Ms. Asgari is serving a five-year sentence for participating in a protest with other retired teachers in August 2018. She recently broke her leg in eight places and uses a walker and wheelchair.

Substandard Conditions

MEK supporters from Urmia reported that the inmates in the women’s ward at the Central Prison of Urmia food are subpar and insufficient to meet their nutritional needs. Authorities have removed the meat from the menu, and the lack of substance and quality of prison food has forced inmates to buy and prepare their own meals. The prisoners say that they have no equipment with which to cook, and they have no money for food. In addition, numerous inmates have been sickened by the unhygienic conditions they are forced to use to prepare their food because of the lack of proper facilities and equipment.

Maryam Rajavi calls the international community

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran’s (NCRI): I urge the international community, especially the United Nations Secretary-General and other human rights organizations to intervene immediately to stop the executions, secure the release of the prisoners, and prevent a major humanitarian catastrophe in the prisons of Iran.

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