Nine days after the Israeli army’s airstrike on Evin Prison and the subsequent transfer of a group of political prisoners to the Greater Tehran Prison and Qarchak Varamin Prison, reports indicate that political detainees in Greater Tehran Prison are being held in extremely poor and unbearable conditions, deprived of even their most basic rights.
According to the PMOI’s network, conditions inside Evin Prison were in complete disarray. Fearing riots and the possibility of widespread unrest leading to the release of political prisoners, authorities began relocating inmates. The prison’s notorious chief, Hedayat Farzadi, was reportedly so overwhelmed that he lacked even a basic list of those being transferred. In a state of panic, he resorted to going from cell to cell, asking prisoners for their names to compile a hasty roster. Approximately 2,000 inmates were forcibly moved from Evin to the Greater Tehran Penitentiary, also known as Fashafouyeh. Among them were 180 political prisoners from Ward 4, who were loaded onto buses with nothing more than the clothes they were wearing.
Worsening Conditions for Political Prisoners in Iran After Israeli Strike on Evin Prison
A group of political prisoners transferred from Evin are currently held in various wards of the second section of Greater Tehran Prison and are being kept in facilities that lack even the minimum standards required for prisoners.
A source close to the families of these political prisoners stated that Iran’s regime is treating them like “prisoners of war” and described their place of detention as “the depths of hell.”
Zahra Rahimi, the wife of 80-year-old political prisoner Abolfazl Ghadyani, who has been transferred to Greater Tehran Prison, expressed concern about her husband’s health and the inhumane conditions in the prison. She said the drinking water is salty and the presence of various cockroaches and bedbugs has deprived prisoners of rest.
She also reported the poor housing conditions, noting that a few beds are crammed into a small space and more than 10 inmates are forced to sleep on the floor.
The regime must end its brutal repression
Meanwhile, a group of political prisoners issued a statement describing the circumstances of their transfer following the Israeli attack and declared: “The deplorable and inhumane conditions of the male and female prisoners transferred from Evin to Qarchak and Greater Tehran Prisons have not changed since the first day of the transfer.”
At the same time, political prisoners Golrokh Iraee, Reyhaneh Ansari, and Varisheh Moradi, who were transferred from Evin to Qarchak Varamin Prison following the Israeli attack, issued a joint statement declaring: “We do not consider our current suffering to be greater than what has been inflicted on the people of Iran.”
These three political prisoners emphasized: “Work to improve conditions for ‘us,’ regardless of our alleged crimes, and for ‘us’ who have been transferred to Qarchak and Greater Tehran Prisons, regardless of our gender. And know that those who were lost beneath the rubble of the attack, and those cast out by the cruel cycle of life, are more deserving than us.”
Additionally, a group of political prisoners transferred to Greater Tehran Prison have warned that if the dire sanitary conditions and lack of facilities persist, they will launch a sit-in and hunger strike.
