1. Execution:

In September 2020, at least 22 prisoners were executed in various Iran’s prisons on charges of Moharebeh, armed robbery, murder, drugs, and rape. Among those executed was a female prisoner named Mahtab Shafiei, and the other executed were men.

All executions have taken place in prisons. According to reports, the age of the executed was between 24 and 40 years.

Political prisoner Navid Afkari Sangari is among of the executed in this month (September 12, 2020) who was one of the detainees of the August 2018 protests in Shiraz on charges of Moharebeh in Shiraz Central Prison.

Iran Will Not Remain Silent on Navid Afkari’s Execution

A child offender named Moayed Savari (Shiapour) was hanged in Ahvaz Central Prison on September 20, 2020.

Executions were carried out in the central prisons of Ardabil, Arak, central Isfahan, central Boroujerd, central Karaj. It also continued in Urmia Central Prison, Central Shiraz Prison, Central Mashhad, Yazd, Central Ahvaz, Gohardasht, Gonbad Kavous and Aligudarz. Most executions took place in Gohardasht Prison.

2. Arrest:

In September 2020, 607 people were arrested under various headings.

Political arrest:

Seventy-eight people were arrested under the pretext of participating in rallies related to the conflict between Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan in the cities of the provinces of East and West Azerbaijan and other Turkic-speaking regions, cooperating with the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), cooperating with Kurdish parties, participating in labor rallies, executing prison sentences and arrest plans which have been carried out by law enforcement, security and intelligence agents.

Arbitrary Arrest:

At least 519 arrests were made under various headings such as publishing immoral content on the Internet, singing, filming and photographing of singing ceremonies. Illegal hunting, wood smuggling, and the release of a student’s anesthesia due to coronavirus are also included in this sentence and at least participating in a mixed party. All were carried out by police, FATA police, environmental patrols, and intelligence agents.

Social Arrest:

Some 10 arrests have been made by intelligence agents for embezzlement, bribery, misconduct, construction offenses.

3. Torture:

We have received various reports of torture in the regime’s formal and informal prisons and detention centers, which is a small part of the regime’s repression of the Iranian people.

Physical Torture:

Vahid and Habib Afkari were physically tortured in Shiraz Central Prison after their brother Navid Afkari was executed.

Salem Zand, a political prisoner in Zahedan Central Prison who was infected with the coronavirus, died during his transfer to a medical center while he was beaten by prison officials.

Salaheddin Issazadeh was arrested during Kolberi and was tortured to death by firing squad by the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) in Naqadeh city, western Iran.

Khaled Pirzadeh a poor Kolbar was severely beaten and tortured in Naqadeh and at least the regime’s forces gave a coup de grace to him. Khaled Pirzadeh was severely beaten in the Greater Tehran prison while he came from surgery. Political prisoner Navid Afkari was beaten and tortured in Shiraz Central Prison before his execution.

Zanest Hassan Nejad, Zanko Ahmadi and Soroush Malekari were arrested by IRGC forces in the Sardasht border during porting (Kolbars), then tortured and shot.

Psychological torture:

Sasan Niknafs, a civil activist in the Greater Tehran Prison, has been deprived of medical care and the right to treatment.

Behnam Mahjoubi a Gonabadi Darvish, prisoner in Evin Prison, was forcibly transferred from Evin Prison to Aminabad (Razi) Psychiatric Hospital.

After the execution of Navid Afkari in Shiraz Central Prison, his brothers Vahid and Habib Afkari are still being held in solitary confinement in the security ward of this prison.

Ali Mohammadi Moghadam is being held in Urmia Central Prison despite dozens of self-mutilations and suicides in harsh prison conditions.

Motaleb Ahmadian, a political prisoner in Gohardasht Prison, is suffering physical problems, including loss of ability to move his legs, as a result of a lack of medical care.

Mohammad Nourizad, a political prisoner in Evin Prison, was transferred to a hospital due to his deteriorating condition and was returned to prison without completing his treatment.

Dr. Naser Fahimi, a political prisoner in the 5th Brigade of the Greater Tehran Prison, has been denied access to medical services after serving 10 years in prison.

Iran Regime Incites Attacks on Political Prisoners

Psychological torture against women prisoners:

Saba Kordafshari, a civil activist imprisoned in Evin Prison, was returned to the prison without medical treatment with the pretext not having paid the treatment costs.

Sharmin Meymandinejad, the founder of Imam Ali Society, has been deprived of the right to medical treatment in Evin Prison.

Women prisoners in Ahvaz Sepidar Prison are in the worst inhumane conditions. Prison officials use heat, dehydration, power outages, and bad hygienic conditions to torture the women.

The deprivation of political prisoner Fatemeh Muthanna from treatment and medicine in the quarantine of Evin Prison continues while she is in bad health conditions.

Exile:

Mohammad Reza (Yohan) Omidi, a Christian convert, was deported to Borazjan to serve a two-year exile.

4. Arbitrary Murder:

In September 2020, we received reports of the killing of Kolbars, and other citizens in various provinces by police, IRGC and Border Regiment officers:

The border regiment of Zahak opened fire on a father and his son who were driving, wounded the father and his son were killed.

A citizen named Meysam was shot dead by IRGC agents in his car on the Kerman-Bam highway. Two brothers, Ali and Habib Bamri, were shot dead by police in Iranshahr on suspicion of carrying drugs.

Direct fire by the State Security Forces (SSF):

Security officers shot and killed a Baloch citizen named Ishaq Shahnavazi while he was driving in his car.

Shahram Mohammadi was killed by the direct fire of the Border Regiment while porting in the border areas of Mako.

Nader Mokhtari, who had fallen into a coma after being beaten during the November 2019 uprising, was transferred to Kahrizak Detention Center (now Soroush 111) after regaining consciousness before Nowruz 2020 and died on September 20, 2020.

In pursuit of a car on the road from Mahabad to Sardasht, IRGC officers shot and killed four occupants of the car. Khedr Bayazidi was the driver of the car and the other three passengers were members of Kurdish parties.

Hassan Khandepour was shot dead by IRGC agents while shepherding in the Dasht-e-Bill area of ​​Oshnoyeh.

Suicides in Prison:

A number of prisoners also committed suicide in the regime’s prisons and detention centers. And some died due to illness and lack of medical care.

Due to the pressure on the prisoners and the catastrophic conditions in the central prison of Urmia, 20 prisoners committed suicide in this prison in 2 weeks and died.

Danial Mohammadi, a 25-year-old non-political prisoner in Dastgerd prison in Isfahan, committed suicide and died as a result of pressure from prison officials to send him from a youth ward to an adult ward and the problems he faced in that ward.

A 23-year-old female prisoner committed suicide in Qarchak Prison in Varamin. But the prison authorities left her with only a simple bandage and no other treatment.

Maryam Ebrahimvand, a writer, director, and film producer who is in a state of uncertainty in Evin Prison committed suicide.

Suicide Spike in Iran Could Be a Sign of Uprising to Come

Prisoners Who Lost Their Lives Due to Lack of Care:

Ismail Mostakhdem was an ordinary prisoner in Bukan Prison who had been in prison for 12 years and was due to be released within a few days. Due to the deterioration of his condition due to cancer and lack of care, he died.

Mahmoud Taheri, an ordinary prisoner in Karaj Central Prison, died of an illness.

Farhad Rahimi, an ordinary prisoner in Urmia Central Prison, referred to the prison health service due to his unsuitable physical condition, but was returned to the ward without being treated and died in the ward.

Prisoners of Conscience

Iranian authorities still prosecute people for their religious beliefs. In this respect, different religious minorities, including Sunnis, Christians, and Baha’is endure additional pressures.

In September 2020, at least three cases Sunni citizens and clerics were targeted for arrest, summoning, and interrogation.

The SSF and judiciary arrested and tried 35 members of Baha’i religious minority due to practicing their faith.

Meantime, authorities summoned six Christian converts and sentenced them to prison and exile.

An Iranian court in southwestern Iran took away the custody of the 2-year-old adopted daughter of an Iranian Christian couple last month. Maryam Falahi and Sam Khosravi adopted Lydia when she was just 3 months old. The Bushehr Court of Appeals said on September 22 that the child was born to Muslim parents and therefore a Christian family could not adopt her.

Summary of Repression and Human Rights Violations in Iran – July 2020