Six political inmates in Evin Prison’s Ward 8 went on a dry hunger strike on January 12 in protest of “prison officials’ complicity in Baktash Abtin’s killing,” according to Iran Human Rights.“We, the political prisoners in Ward 8 of Evin Prison, following Baktash Abtin’s death and the blatant role of prison officials, the judiciary, until our demands are met: for the aforementioned to accept responsibility and apologize in the official national press,” the letter from Evin Prison read.

 

Six political detainees at the Greater Tehran Penitentiary appeared in court on January 8 to face new accusations, just months after they were beaten by violent criminals hired by prison officials. Political prisoners Akbar Bagheri, Pouya Ghobadi, Shapour Ehsani Rad, Esmail Gerami, Alireza Farshi, and one other prisoner were arrested and charged with ‘rioting in jail’ at Hassanabad Fashafoyeh Criminal Court Branch 101. The fraudulent charges were brought against them when prison officials complained that the inmates were rioting, participating in prison protests, and celebrating in the facility.

Since the beginning of the Coronavirus outbreak in Iran, the ruling regime has failed to take the necessary measures to attempt to contain the virus. More than 32,000 people have died across the country and the people have been left extremely vulnerable in more ways than one. Not only are they suffering from the health aspect, including seeing loved ones die, but they are also feeling the economic impact.

The Association of Accredited Correspondents at the United Nations (ACANU) hosted a webinar on April 14 to discuss conditions in Iranian prisons amidst the spread of the coronavirus.

As the Mujahedin- Khalq (PMOI/MEK Iran) has repeatedly said, the human rights situation in Iran has been despicable for many years now. The people of Iran have very little freedom, and ethnic and religious minorities are regularly targeted by authorities. Students, academics, environmentalists, and activists also face regular discrimination.

The MEK Iran recently uncovered a confidential memorandum from the regime’s Central Monitoring and Command of Security Forces (SSF) to specialized units of police stations regarding prison protests and rebellions during the current coronavirus pandemic.

The Iranian regime executed a Kurdish political prisoner last Saturday, following his prison break during the riots over the coronavirus crisis there.

Soheil Arabi, a political prisoner in the Greater Tehran Penitentiary, has been denied medical treatment and his health is deteriorating. He is in severe pain and he has been asking for medication – to no avail. He also requires surgery because of a physical injury and has an infection that is spreading.

The Greater Tehran Penitentiary is known for its poor sanitation and there are huge numbers of prisoners crammed into very small spaces. The prisoners face many health-related risks on a normal basis, but with the spread of Coronavirus, the risk has become significantly higher.

Coronavirus, or COVID-19, has occurred in a number of the regime’s prisons and is being largely ignored by prison officials https://t.co/btThqlXmY7#iran #freeiran #MEK @USAdarFarsi pic.twitter.com/tSIad4egFU

— MEK Iran (Mujahedin-e Khalq) (@MEK_Iran) March 4, 2020

Last year, it was reported that Soheil Arabi had been in serious danger after suffering massive blood loss after having a broken nose. His nose was broken by prison authorities during an interrogation at the IRGC-controlled ward 2A and he was severely beaten.

Soheil Arabi was sentenced to death in 2013, but a few years later it was reduced to several years imprisonment and two years of mandatory study on the topic of Islamic theology. He was charged with insulting religious leaders in postings on social media.

Human rights organizations have called on the Iranian government to vacate the prisoner’s sentence, with many expressing their shock and disgust that the people of Iran risk imprisonment and the death penalty for issues related to the freedom of speech. Arabi is not the first prisoner in Iran that has been handed a death sentence for peacefully exercising his rights with regard to the freedom of expression.

Arabi has said that he was punished after “writing and publishing an article about the conditions of prisoners detained in ward 1 of the Greater Tehran Penitentiary”.

He explained that during an interrogation, a prison official kicked him violently in the testicles and when he regained consciousness he was in the hospital. A doctor explained to him that he had blunt force trauma and that he requires immediate surgery to remove one of his testicles. However, months passed and he was not granted the surgery he needed, meaning that infection took hold and has spread across his body, especially these legs.

Prison authorities in Iran take no responsibility for the health of the prisoners under their care and there are widespread reports that this is happening in prisons across the country, and political prisoners, in particular, are neglected and denied the most basic of health care.

There are major concerns in the country with regard to the spread of the Coronavirus. The prisoners of Iran are at particular risk because of the close confinement that they are subject to, as well as the poor sanitary conditions. The regime’s cover-up of the health crisis is despicable and it is becoming clearer and clearer why the people want regime change.

#Coronavirus Death Toll Rising in #Iranian #Prisons https://t.co/t8rhHqMgWg#MEK

— MEK Iran (Mujahedin-e Khalq) (@MEK_Iran) March 3, 2020

Compared to the response by governments across the world, the Iranian regime has let down the people in one of the most serious ways possible. The already vulnerable people have been once again disappointment by the regime’s reaction. 

In objection to the poor living condition in prison, two political prisoners, Mehdi Farahi Shandiz and Mohammad Riazat, went on a hunger strike.

The Campaign in Defense of Political and Civil Prisoners reported that due to the lack of facilities and warm water in the central prison of Karaj the two political prisoners went on a hunger strike since October 17, 2019; they were relocated to solitary confinement a day later.

Following the widespread protests in last August in Iran, Mohammad Riazat was arrested and then temporarily released on bail. Mehdi Zeinali, the criminal revolutionary court’s judge, sentenced Mrs. Riazat to three years in jail on charges of “insulting the Founder and Supreme Leader” and “propaganda against the regime” Mrs. Riazat was transferred to Karaj’s Central Penitentiary on December 10, 2019.

Mehdi Farahi Shandiz was charged by criminal Judge Moqisi, on “insulting the Leader” and “disturbing public order” and was sentenced to three years behind bars. This political prisoner, in two other separate cases, in 2011 and 2014, had been sentenced to nine years in prison on the same charges.

Prior to this, in an open letter on July 15, 2019, due to unacceptable prison conditions and misconducted behavior of prison officials, six other political prisoners had gone on a hunger strike.

The heroic resistance of the Mujahedin-e Khalq’s (PMOI/MEK) political prisoners has always been inspiring for the opposition movements of Iran particularly the youths, the teachers, and the workers.

I reiterate the need for the formation of an international delegation to visit and inspect Iranian prisons and conditions of political prisoners in #Iran.https://t.co/wYM9zxg4eo pic.twitter.com/UX1vpZIqvh

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) June 14, 2019

According to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the MEK sources, during the period of June 22 to July 22, 2019, there had been 24 hunger strikes by political prisoners in Iran.

The designation of Ebrahim Raisi, the key figure in the1988 massacre in which 30,000 political prisoners, mainly the MEK members and supporters, were slaughtered in just a few months, as Chief Justice, and that of three top terrorists from the IRGC, Salami, Fadavi, and Hanqdi, by Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the religious dictatorship ruling Iran, clearly shows that there is no mercy in this barbarian regime. These designations indicate also the high capacity of the Iranian society for revolt, samples of which can be seen in the streets, factories, schools, prisons and… The MEK resistance units are mobilizing these unrests throughout the country on a daily basis.

The brave uprisings in Iran are inspired by the historical MEK resistance against two dictatorial regimes, those of the Shah and the mullahs, and have always been supported by the MEK.

Torching the regime’s symbols and posters of the regime’s Supreme Leader, by the MEK resistance units across the country urges the youth and the women to stand up against the regime.

Mullahs in #Iran hopelessly try to prevent a popular uprising and thwart the expansion of resistance units by using internal suppression and external sponsorship of #terrorism https://t.co/sHwxd0FbHk#MEK @USAdarFarsi pic.twitter.com/nHTsy5xLNu

— MEKIran (@MEK_Iran) October 17, 2019

The resistance of political prisoners, particularly MEK supporters as well as other sectors of the Iranian society clearly indicates the embers beneath the ashes in the tumultuous Iranian society. They want regime change and establishing democracy and freedom by the true and reliable alternative, the NCRI and its elected President, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi.

Staff Writer.

 

Court hearings for Majid Assadi, scheduled for Wednesday, September 26th, were canceled this week after Assadi refused to wear a prison uniform for his transfer to court and submit to illegal procedures by prison officials, according to reports from Mujahedin-e Khalq  (PMOI/MEK) sources inside Iran.

This is the second time court hearings for Assadi have been canceled this year. On August 18th, he was summoned to the Evin Court in Tehran for a hearing, but the proceedings were canceled after Assadi refused to wear a prison uniform and wrist and leg shackles for his transfer to the court.

Denial of Medical Treatment

MEK sources reported in August that prison authorities were denying Assadi badly needed treatment for a chronic medical condition. Assadi has been diagnosed by physicians with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), an autoimmune inflammatory disease that affects the joints in the spine. He also has optic inflammation and gastric ulcers. His digestive issues have worsened as a result of a lack of medical care while in prison.

Assadi was diagnosed with gastric ulcers and intestinal inflammation in September 2018, but prison officials have denied him access to physicians to treat these conditions for the past year.

Majid Assadi needs to see a specialist at a hospital outside of the prison once every three months to manage his AS, which is a painful and degenerative disease that requires ongoing treatment. However, the regime’s judiciary refuses to allow political prisoners to receive outside medical treatment in virtually all cases, and medical care inside Iran’s prisons is almost nonexistent.

Assadi, a graduate of Allameh Tabatabaei University, was arrested in his home in 2017 and charged with “propaganda and conspiracy against the establishment.” He was sentenced to six years in prison, followed by two years in exile. He previously served four years in prison from 2011-2015 for his political activism.

In 2012, while serving his previous sentence, Assadi went on a one-week hunger strike in protest of the regime’s treatment of two political prisoners in Ward 350 of Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison. The prisoners, Ali Moezi and Vahid Asghari, had been transferred to solitary confinement and denied visitors.

The regime ruling #Iran continues to impose inhumane pressures on political prisoners.#HumanRightshttps://t.co/LhJcsazdIZ

— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) September 28, 2019

Arash Sadeghi

The MEK also previously reported on another political prisoner who is being denied medical treatment. Arash Sadeghi underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in September 2018. After his surgery, he was immediately returned to prison on the orders of the regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), despite medical advice. As a result, Sadeghi developed an infection and has lost sensation in his arm and hand. He now needs to undergo several rounds of chemotherapy to treat his cancer, but regime authorities are refusing to allow him to go to the hospital for this life-saving treatment.

Sadeghi is a human rights activist who is currently serving a 15-year sentence for insulting the regime’s leaders and “propaganda and conspiracy against the establishment.” Amnesty International issued a statement in August warning about the dire condition of Sadeghi’s health.

Staff Writer