The situation of political prisoners in Evin notorious prison after April 17 raid on Ward 350 and reported dispatching of Revolutionary Guards and agents of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry to contain the leakage of information to outside world and preparing the ground for further attacks and killing is of great concern. As Amnesty International described in its Urgent Action, 32 political prisoners have been transferred to solitary confinement. Reportedly, political prisoners and supporters of the main Iranian opposition of People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, PMOI, have been severely wounded in the attack, suffering broken ribs and bleeding. Others protesting the raid have started a hunger strike.
Among those injured, Gholamreza Khosravi Savadjani, Assadollah Hadi, Javad Fouladvand and Assadollah Assadi are in critical condition. Rouhani’s abysmal human rights record, combined with his choice of Mullah PourMohammadi, one of the main officials responsible for the massacre of political prisoners in the summer of 1988 based on Khomeini’s fatwa, and Hamid Abou Talebi, a known hostage taker and mastermind of the assassination of the National Council of Resistance of Iran’s representative is Italy, Mohammad Hossein Naghdi, leaves no ambiguity to understand the hollow of reform and moderation.
Sacrificing human rights under the pretext of nuclear negotiations is a dangerous path that is in contradiction to the principles on which the United Nations was built.
We therefore call on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms. Navi Pillay to initiate an independent and impartial investigation into the deteriorating situation of political prisoners in Iran and the April 17 raid on Evin prison. And we urge Canada, the United States and the international community to respond to call of conscience and condemn this barbaric act against political prisoners in Iran.
Hon. David Kilgour, JD
Co-Chair, Ottawa
