July 16, 2025 | Ghezel Hesar Prison, Karaj
Political detainees in Ghezelhesar prison warn that the regime is using the post-war climate to escalate repression, citing the secret transfer of Saeed Masouri as a dangerous new phase in human rights violations.
A group of political prisoners detained in Ghezel Hesar Prison has issued a public statement condemning the secret transfer of Saeed Masouri—one of Iran’s longest-imprisoned political detainees—to an unknown location. The prisoners described the move as part of an alarming pattern of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial retaliation by the Iranian regime against dissenters.
In their statement, the prisoners declared that “abducting political prisoners and transferring them to undisclosed locations is a blatant violation of human rights,” accusing the regime of systematically using such tactics to punish and suppress resistance within prison walls.
The statement also noted the regime’s broader strategy of exploiting the recent war as a pretext for intensifying domestic repression. “War has given the regime a new excuse to suffocate the people—especially political prisoners—through increased torture, pressure, and the deepening of a climate of fear,” the prisoners wrote.
They emphasized that the Iranian regime perceives the real adversary in the war not as foreign governments, but the people of Iran themselves. According to the statement, the government has escalated arbitrary arrests, mass accusations, and brutal treatment of political detainees in the post-war period as a form of collective punishment.
“Saeed Masouri, after 25 years of imprisonment, is now a target of this blind retaliation,” they warned.
The prisoners called on all defenders of human rights to take a stand: “We, the political prisoners of Ghezel Hesar, appeal to all freedom-loving people to stand with us and stop this blatant human rights violation in Iran’s prisons.”
The statement was dated July 16, 2025. No information has yet emerged regarding Masouri’s current location or condition.
