There are still no precise statistics on the number of children detained. The justice minister of the Iranian regime has stated that a number of teenagers aged 16 to 18 are being held in juvenile detention and rehabilitation centers.
However, received reports indicate that many of these children and teenagers have been held in Tehran Greater Prison (Fashafouyeh), Amol Prison, Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, as well as in secret detention centers in Kerman and Mashhad—facilities where, according to accounts, they have been subjected to various forms of physical and psychological torture and abuse.
The families of some of these teenagers have still not been able to secure lawyers for their children and are deeply concerned about their condition.
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Held in general crime wards and risk of assault
Some reports from inside Fashafouyeh Prison and Amol Prison indicate that detained children are being held in wards designated for ordinary crimes. According to informed sources, in some halls overcrowding is so severe that it is impossible to ensure the protection of these children.
Some prisoners have also spoken about the risk of sexual assault and abuse against these children; an issue about which prison officials have reportedly been informed, yet no action has been taken to prevent it.
According to the account of a non-political prisoner from Fashafouyeh Prison, between January 10 and February 4 the number of children in the ward had increased to such an extent that, unfortunately, some inmates convicted of violent crimes sexually abused these children, while prison authorities practically took no action to protect them.
Release on heavy bail and signing unknown documents
In Amol Prison, the number of detained children during the first two weeks was reportedly so high that, according to visitors, on one day in early February, after the prison gates were opened, around 20 to 25 children aged 13 to 16 were handed over to their families in disheveled and poor condition.
According to the families, all of these children were required to sign documents before their release, the contents of which were unknown to them. Only after signing these papers were they freed on bail amounts ranging from several hundred million tomans to one billion tomans—equivalent to several billion to 10 billion rials (approximately 62,500 U.S. dollars).
Lack of information about the detainees’ condition
A lawyer in Kerman Province, expressing concern about the situation of detained children, said: “We practically do not have much information, unless a family comes forward.”
According to him, some families have been advised to file missing person reports.
The father of a 17-year-old teenager who was recently released approached this lawyer to follow up on his son’s legal status. He said the teenager had been beaten repeatedly, had two broken ribs, and had dislocated fingers.
According to him, his son is severely distressed and recounted: “They sat us in a room without windows and urinated on us. They kept mocking us and laughing loudly at us. I think they kept us there like that for several days. Then they brought a hose and sprayed us with ice-cold water at high pressure.”
The lawyer emphasized that families are under pressure and that informing the public under such circumstances is of great importance.
In another case, according to the father of one of the detained children in Amol, officials told him: “You were given the chance to raise your child; now we will make them into proper people ourselves.”
Accounts of unofficial detention centers in Mashhad
The issue of detaining and abusing children has previously drawn the attention of human rights organizations. During the nationwide protests of 2022, Human Rights Watch reported that Iranian security forces, in suppressing the protests, had killed, tortured, and in some cases subjected children to sexual assault and enforced disappearance.
A relative of the family of a 16-year-old teenager in Mashhad said that for two weeks there was no information about the child’s condition. The family was initially told that he was in a juvenile detention center, but follow-ups yielded no results.
A financial crimes prisoner who was recently released from Vakilabad Prison contacted the family and said that the child had been held for some time in an unofficial detention center and, prior to his release, had been transferred to a general crimes ward.
According to this source, cigarette burn marks were clearly visible on the teenager’s wrist and arm, and he had difficulty walking. The teenager has not provided many details about what happened to him, but his family suspects that he may also have been sexually abused.
According to this former financial prisoner, the child was told: “You will not see your family again, and we will throw your corpse away.”
He was also forced to sign a document which, according to him, was required in order to stop the torture.
