Following the execution of six prisoners affiliated with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) by Iranian regime security agents at Ghezel Hesar Prison, new information has emerged about the circumstances and method of the executions.
At around 9:30 p.m. on Sunday night, March 29, more than 20 guards from Ghezel Hesar Prison stormed the political prisoners’ hall in Unit 4 to transfer and execute six members of the PMOI. The agents were led by a man named Hassan Ghobadi.
At that hour, all prisoners were in their cells, and at first no one realized the agents had arrived because this is not normally the time when prison guards enter the units and halls.
Two agents stood beside each cell and moments later entered and told the prisoners, “Come out of your rooms without touching anything. It’s an inspection.”
The purpose of this was to deceive the prisoners so they would leave their cells and then the hall without resistance.
To reassure the prisoners, Hassan Ghobadi twice shouted loudly that there was no problem and it was only an inspection. The prisoners came out of their cells and gathered in the corridor.
The agents began asking the prisoners’ names, and it became clear that they intended to take six prisoners for execution.
When they tried to handcuff Vahid Bani Amerian’s hands behind his back, he resisted. As a result, several agents attacked him and repeatedly struck his head and face, leaving him bloodied.
Long-standing political prisoner Saeed Masouri, who had not yet come into the corridor, shouted: “Kill all of us—death to Khamenei.”
Qasem Sahraei (the prison duty officer) asked Ali Younesi, “What’s your name?” Ali said, “Ali.” Sahraei then asked for his surname, and when Ali gave it, he punched him hard in the face, causing it to swell immediately.
After that, 21 prisoners were handcuffed and taken to Ward 8, from where they were to be transferred to solitary confinement.
There, the six condemned prisoners were separated from the rest.
One by one, the handcuffed prisoners kissed these six men, said goodbye, and emphasized continuing their path.
Even the agents were astonished by the morale of these six, because as they were being taken to execution, there was no sign of fear or terror in any of them.
One of the prisoners could not contain himself and, overwhelmed with emotion, began to cry and kissed the faces of all six.
When Vahid Bani Amerian, Mohammad Taghavi, and Akbar Daneshvar saw him crying, they rebuked him, telling him not to cry and not to let the enemy see his tears.
With his usual smile, Vahid said, “Why are you crying? We are going to Behrouz (Ehsani) and Mehdi (Hassani).” (These two were PMOI members who had been executed in the same prison last August.)
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Mohammad Taghavi stood calmly and with dignity. When they were moved, Pouya Ghobadi, while his hands were handcuffed, raised them in a gesture of farewell.
After taking away those six, the rest of the prisoners were also transferred to solitary confinement on the accusation that they had caused too much commotion and noise.
PMOI members Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, like many others, were also sent to the gallows by these same executioners. Allah-Karam has repeatedly been present at and participated in execution scenes.
