On Wednesday, July 16, Bijan Kazemi, a political prisoner detained since January 2025, informed his mother during a brief phone call—his first in 12 days of total silence—that he had been transferred to one of the Intelligence Ministry’s safe houses in the city of Qom. This was his first communication since his suspicious transfer from Greater Tehran Prison and he has heightened concerns over his physical and mental well-being, including the risk of torture and enforced disappearance.
His mother, Ms. Khosravi, said in a statement: “Bijan called tonight and said he is imprisoned in one of the Intelligence Ministry’s safe houses in Qom. I don’t know if he is alive or not.”
Safe houses are secret facilities operated by intelligence agencies, beyond the reach of judicial oversight. These locations are consistently associated with torture, psychological abuse, and coerced confessions. Human rights activists have repeatedly warned about the systematic use of such illegal spaces and described them as a clear symbol of widespread human rights violations by Iran’s regime.
From arrest in Khorramabad to enforced disappearance in Qom
Bijan Kazemi was arrested on January 19 and was initially held and interrogated at the Intelligence Ministry’s detention center in Khorramabad. He was then transferred to Ward 241 of Evin Prison (under the control of the judiciary’s Intelligence Protection Unit), and later to Ward 209 (directly overseen by the Intelligence Ministry). Following the bombing of Evin Prison, he was moved to Fashafouyeh Prison. Finally, on July 1, he and a group of other detainees were transferred to an undisclosed location, now revealed to be one of the Intelligence Ministry’s safe houses in Qom.
During this entire period, no official charges have been brought against him, he has been denied access to legal counsel and has only been permitted extremely brief calls to inform his family that he is still alive.
Legal rights conditioned on cooperation with Intelligence
MinistryAccording to his family, security agents have explicitly stated that access to a lawyer, family visits, or any legal process is conditional on “cooperating with the Intelligence Ministry.” This pattern is one of the regime’s common methods for fabricating cases and forcing false confessions.
When a prisoner is removed from the view of oversight bodies, their family, and even the judicial system, the stage is fully set for physical torture, psychological pressure, threats against family members, and forced televised confessions. Human rights organizations have warned that under the current conditions—especially in the context of the recent war crisis and heightened security atmosphere—these circumstances may lead to grave human rights abuses against political prisoners.
