Vicious Attack on Political Prisoners in Iran’s Notorious Evin Prison
In yet another example of the barbarity of the Rouhani regime, political prisoners were viciously attacked on Thursday 17 April, in ward 350 of Evin prison. Ward 350, one of the wards specifically designated for political prisoners, including supporters and sympathisers of the PMOI, was savagely attacked by the Iranian regime’s suppressive security forces. The attack lasted five hours. It was conducted by 100 revolutionary guards, intelligence elements, and the prison’s special anti-riot guards.
Entering the prison under the guise of an inspection, the prisoners were brutally set upon by the security forces. A number of the prisoners were severely wounded and suffered severe bleeding and broken bones in the head and ribs. Amongst them Gholamreza Khossravi Savadjani, Assadollah Hadi, Javad Fouladvand and Assadollah Assadi are in critical condition.
Assadollah Hadi who just recently had open-heart surgery, is in a critical condition. Amnesty International, in condemning the attacks, reported that 30 prisoners have been transferred to solitary confinement as a result of the raid, their fate unknown.
The attacks were mainly directed at prisoners who face charges of affiliation with the main opposition group, the PMOI. The BBC reported eye witness evidence, that those prisoners accused of affiliation with the MeK (PMOI/Iran’s major Opposition) were beaten savagely. In protest against this atrocity, the prisoners in ward 350 have been on hunger strike since the attack.
On Sunday, April 20, families of the political prisoners assembled in protest in front of mullahs’ regime parliament to find out about the condition of their loved ones, and demanding the prisoners be returned to the general landings and the ending of torture in solitary confinement.
On Monday, April 21, the head of Evin Prison prevented visits by families of those political prisoners who had been transferred to solitary confinement during the barbaric April 17 raid. These families had attended to see their loved ones, as they usually do on Mondays, but were turned away in a bid to conceal the facts.
The British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom, strongly condemns this blatant violation of human rights, and appeals to the international community and our government, to take effective measures against crimes committed by the Iranian regime.
Lord Carlile, the Committee Co-chair said: “Any negotiations with the Iranian regime must be undertaken with the human rights of political dissidents, in particular PMOI supporters, including those in Iran, and in Camp Liberty in Iraq, fully respected. Since Rouhani’s inauguration in 2013, not only there have not been any fundamental changes for the Iranian people but, in reality, the human rights situation is worse than under his predecessor, Ahmadinejad.”
