Prisoners were ordered to attend a lecture by Babaee, head of the prison organization of Sistan and Baluchestan provinces. Despite threats made by members of these forces, prisoners refused and the guards cut all the phone lines to the wards as punishment. Telephone contacts with their families have been cut off for over a week.
Suppressive forces were also involved in a dawn raid on Zahedan prison on May 28th. There the prisoners were brutally beaten and their property confiscated, according to sources within Iran. Various prisoners were left in the sun for hours without access to drinking water or lavatories.
Bandar Abbas is considered one of the worst in Iran. An estimated 3,800 prisoners are being housed in a prison meant to support 300 to 400. Of these, 500 prisoners are sentenced to death. The mullahs’ Supreme Court has approved 300 of these death sentences.
According to the National Council of Resistance in Iran, this prison suffers from overcrowding and lack of hygiene. Political and non-political prisoners are housed without the basic necessities of life. Water is scarce, along with food and medications. Psychotropic drugs and methadone pills are the only available medications and simple illnesses go untreated. A large number of prisoners sleep in hallways. Vermin are prevalent.
In one ward at Bandar Abbas, 200 prisoners share four showers and two toilets. Sources state most days there are no showers because there is no water available.
There are accusations of mismanagement by the individuals who control these prisons. Institutions point to expired food items being sold to prisoners at three times the normal rate of canned food as one example. Others include the lack of basic toiletries and personal care items, which have not been distributed to the prisoners in months. Water is scarce and what is available smells and tastes bad. Political prisoners are not allowed to leave their wards or to use the library.
