Witnesses Report From Inside Evin Prison!

In Farsi(HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS IN IRAN)

• Whatever happened in Iran during the past few days in relation to the human rights violations and also the repression of the Iranian people, because it was in the clear views of the eyes and was seen and witnessed by the Iranians and the whole world, was simply a clear issue that could not have been denied as it was clearly seen.

All those who were responsible about these issues did their best in order to deny the whole thing, however they were unsuccessful. But what’s happening to the prisoners in Iran, especially in the Evin prison during the past few days, is an issue which is taking place behind the walls or in other words secretly, and are imposed to the prisoners away from the sight of human rights activists. Reports of beatings and torture and abuse of prisoners and the availability of the least facilities of that relief has heard and fled recently and some of those who have been released have announced these in private phoenix.

This report contains parts from the human rights activists in Iran, which is about the deplorable conditions and violations of certain prisoners in Evin prison, and also other prisons. It is also the result of the views of those who were in the prison themselves and have experienced these.

Witnesses are subject to:

Many prisoners, who were in the solitary confinement even before the elections, after the extensive wave of arrests began, were still kept in cells for consecutive days without any interrogators visiting them. In some cases they were kept in the cells for even up to 40 or 50 days and the prisoner is also left on their own. With the start of the unprecedented protest of the Iranian people in Iran, especially in Tehran and the subsequent arrests the discipline of the Evin prison especially in units 240 and 209 has become worse, and this detention takes place in multiplicity of prisoners.

Capital intensity is filling the cells 209 and 240. Band 2A belongs to the revolutionary guards in Evin prison. Prison authorities and the unit security were forced to refer prisoners to the corridors of the prison and after filling the areas they were forced to also send prisoners to those sections which were unused for a very long time.

Due to a serious lack of space in the prison, many of the interrogations take place in the cells or corridors and not in an interrogation rooms. Prisoners are beaten and tortured at the time of their interrogation. Excessive exuberance of prisoners in the last few days is now the biggest problem for the prisoners, in a way that that they are in a very bad condition regarding their food and health wise. Among these, the authorities at the Evin prison are extremely lax and they do not look after prisoners in any way. The situation is so bad that the prisoners might not be able to eat during the day as there is no food and if they’re very lucky, they might be able to eat just one small portion for the whole day.

The authorities in charge at the Evin prison, also the interrogators, according to what prisoners and witnesses say, use Ahmadinejads topic and abuse prisoners accordingly. They are much more brutal and strict than before. They have no exceptions between prisoners, meaning they treat prisoners all in the same way. Even the elder lies who have been arrested are beaten and tortured.

Thos well known, or special prisoners are transferred to solitary units which are unknown in the prison. These places have remained unused for a very long time and many of their facilities are not even useable. Our witnesses talk about their presence at these cells which in Persian are called SIAHCHAL.

These witnesses say that these solitaries are very small in way that the prisoner has no space to even lie down, in order to sleep. These cells are very dark, even sunlight can pass through. The cells do not have a shower but a very small toilet. The prisoner in these cells can not have a shower while in the cell, until they can come out.

The amount of beatings and tortures used against prisoners, to make them confess cannot be described. Many of them are badly injured during their interrogation however no medical help is available to them. The prisoners do not have access to proper food. The health issue at the Evin prison is facing serious problems these days. One of the reasons as explained is the high amount of prisoners. The beating and tortures have become unbearable for the prisoners. In most situations the officers in charge at the prison, because the condition of the prisoners are so bad due to tortures, have actually helped prisoners or often took them to the medical centre at the prison. Even in some cases the interrogators have been reported in violation, however at the next interrogation, if the interrogator finds out about the report, the amount of torture and beatings gets worse for the prisoner.

The organisations that arrest people are; the ministry of information, the revolutionary guards, and the Basij. The most beatings and tortures are reported to be from Basijis. In the recent days, due to high amount of arrests and because the prisons and police stations are full, those who are arrested are freed after they are tortured and their commitments are obtained. However the rest of those who are arrested are taken to prisons. Most of these prisoners, because they are not famous and not well known among people, usually no one apart form may be their families look for them. They are taken to cells which contain about 10 to 15 people and after a couple of days they might be interrogated only if anyone could remember that they are in the prison.

Apart from Evin prison, those arrested are often taken to very old prisons which are not even usable. One example is the interior ministry detention, which is known as (MENHAYE CHAHAR or MINUS FOUR). We have read in the previous reports that those students who were arrested at the Tehran university campus are also taken to this place and have gone under severe tortures and beatings. Other places are: shapour detention unit, and also the security police. The prisoners who are taken to those places are freed after severe beatings and tortures. Arg underground and shapour detention are the most important places for the transfer of the prisoners.

Also the main quarantine of the Evin prison is undergoing a terrible condition due to a high number of prisoners. One of the prisoners from Evin says “The quarantine is nearly filled up to the roof due to high amount of prisoners”. One of the tortures used a lot these days is keeping the prisoners awake on their feet and not allowing them to sleep. This kind of torture is mostly used for prisoners who are supposed to be taken in front of the cameras in order to confess. It has been said that these prisoners are chosen by judge mortazavi, and their case is dealt by him too.

During the interrogation by the interrogators apart from the harsh tortures, bad language is also used. Judge Hadad and his deputy Heydarifar, will be dealing with most of these case themselves.