Mohammad-Ali was stabbed in the abdomen by the two notorious agents that are known among the prisoners. His main artery was ruptured and he died of his injuries before he was able to be treated by medical professionals.
Mohammad-Ali was arrested in July last year on the charge of spreading anti-regime propaganda and of insulting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the late Supreme Leader and founder of the Islamic Republic Ruhollah Khomeini. He was given a sentence of 8 years in prison.
Along with another prisoner, Barzan Mohammadi, Mohammad-Ali had participated in a hunger strike because of the terrible conditions in the prison. The two men were on hunger strike from 14th March until 16th April this year and they were specifically calling for prisoners to be separated into different categories. They also brought attention to the appalling health and sanitary conditions of the prison.
The two murderers both work on behalf of the regime from inside the prison. Hamidreza Shoja is in the prison after being accused of murder and Mohammad Reza Khalilzadeh is there on charges related to narcotics. They are said to have stabbed Mohammad-Ali more than 40 times.
Reports indicate that the two regime operatives were recruited by prison officials. They were told to start a ruckus at a specific time when no guards were present. The idea was to make the fight that broke out seem like it was just a spontaneous fight between the inmates, however it has become clear that this is not the case. Phones in the ward were disconnected and it was very carefully planned.
Barzan Mohammadi was critically injured in the attack that killed his fellow inmate who died on the way to hospital.
Conditions at this prison are dreadful, as they are in most of the other prisons across the country. Prisoners are very badly treated, especially political prisoners. Dangerous and violent criminals are put in with peaceful political prisoners and the lack of security is a big concern.
The Greater Tehran Penitentiary was originally built as a prison for convicts that have been charged with narcotics related crimes. However, in reality, it is not this at all as prisoners of conscience and political prisoners are sent there.
This is not the first time the prison has been named as being part of scandalous activity. In September last year, people of the Gonabadi Dervish community, a religious minority in the country that is often persecuted by the regime, were severely brutalised simply for speaking out against the mistreatment and violence that their wives were facing in Qarchak Prison.
Stories like these are all too common in the prisons across the country. The regime believes that such treatment will silence all of the regime’s opponents, but it is very much mistaken.
