New pressure on prisoners in Evin section 350 - exile!

Saturday 28 August 2010

Abstract: In the past 2 weeks at least 6 political prisoners have been transferred from ward 350 of Evin Prison to Rajai-Shahr, Gonbad-Kavous and Zanjan prisons. Majid Tavakoli, Hamed Rouhinejad and Ali Karimi are among the transferred prisoners. The transfers have taken place without the knowledge of prisoners' families or their lawyers. Other families fear that their loved ones may also be exiled. Phones at ward 350 remain disconnected, adding to the families' concerns. Several prisoners at ward 350 have been told by officials that the transfers of prisoners will continue, causing distress among the residents of the ward.

 

Kalameh: The exile of the political prisoners of Evin to other prisons of the country has brought about a new phase of pressure on political prisoners. According to a Kalemeh reporter, during the last two weeks at least 6 political prisoners of Ward 350 of Evin have been transferred to RejayiShahr Gonbad Kavous and Zanjan prisons. Majid Tavakoli, Ahmad Karimi and Hamed Rouhinejad are among these prisoners. The prisoners have been transferred without any notice to their families or lawyers. Families of many other detainees of this ward are in fear of the imminent exile of their loved ones to prisons in remote cities. The continuation of the disconnection of the phone lines in Ward 350 has increased their concerns.

According to a number of the prisoners of Ward 350, the Evin prison officials have told them that exiling prisoners of this ward will continue, which has translated into enormous psychological stress and pressure for prisoners of this ward. 

Heightened Pains of Prisoners in Exile

Prison coupled with exile generates additional stress to the prisoner and his/her family. The prisoner suffers increased pain, as on one hand he/she is separated from cell-mates who are also prisoners of conscience or political prisoners, and on the other hand he/she is transferred to be detained among unfamiliar prisoners convicted of ordinary crimes. 

The exile of political prisoners to prisons in remote cities also causes enormous difficulties for their families. Due to the increased distance, the families are forced to visit their loved ones much less often instead of their regular weekly visits, which itself increases the psychological pressure on both the prisoners and their families.

In addition to the hightened psychological pressures on the prisoners and their families, exile in prison has other negative impacts on the families of the prisoners, such as imposing significant financial burden on them due to the high cost of repeated round trips to the cities where their loved ones are transferred to spend the rest of their sentence.   

Transfer of political prisoners away from their ward-mates also exacerbates the psychological pressure on the remaining inmates as on one hand they suffer absence of cell-mates after months of sharing empathy in the same ward, and on the other hand they are anxious and deeply concerned for their welfare.

Transferring of political prisoners is used as a tool to constantly keep prisoners under threat of a cruel treatment that can happen to any other prisoners at any time, and this constant threat makes their term more stressful for them and their families.

 

Zhila Baniyaghoub, journalist and spouse of Bahman Ahamadi Amouii (one of the prisoners of Ward 350) in one of her most recent weblog posts describing the psychological impacts of the transferring of the prisoners notes: "the phone lines of Ward 350 are still disconnected, but I can imagine how Bahman and his ward-mates are feeling now, I know how saddened they are due to the imposed exile of their friends. Bahman had mentioned to me before that how everyone left in the ward was saddened when they took one of the prisoners away from the ward - the ward was filled with sorrow and depression for many days..." 

 

Who Are the Exiled Prisoners?

Majid Tavakoli, a student activist, is one of the exiled prisoners. On Dey 30th, 1388 (January 20, 2010) he was convicted of gathering and planning against the regime, propaganda against the regime, and insult to the supreme leader and the president, and he was sentenced to 8 and a half years of prison, 5 years ban on political activity and international travel, issued by Branch 15 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court. He was one of 17 prisoners of Ward 350 who went on a two week-long hunger strike to protest the inhumane conditions of Ward 350. After his hunger strike, Tavakoli was transferred to Rejaei Shahr prison. Rejayi Shahr prison is the exile destination of another Ward 350 prisoner, Farzad Madadzadeh, who was transferred a few days before Tavakoli.

Ahmad Karimi, one of the political prisoners of ward 350, is another exiled prisoner who was transferred to Gonbad Kavous, where he must spend his term far away from his family. Karimi's family are not well-off and reside in one of the impoverished districts of Southern Tehran. Transportation, to and from a city far away from home for Karimi's elderly mother is also physically and psychologically exhausting.

Hamed Rouhinejad is exiled to Zanjan to spend the rest of his term. Rouhinejad's family are facing the same financial hardships as Karimi's, with a difference that the situation for this family, due to Rouhinejad's Multiple Sclerosis disease, is even more difficult and worrisome.

Hamed Rouhinejad, a philosphy student, was accused of conspiracy against national security. He had been detained in Evin prison for a year and was deprived of even one day of medical release. He was tried in the post election show-trials and initially served with the death penalty, a sentence which was eventually reduced to 10 years imprisonment by the appeals court, followed by an exile to the Zanjan prison.

An M.S. patient, according to his family, Rouhinejad has lost the function of part of his nervous system during his detention in Evin due to the lack of medical attention to his condition, and his physical condition is worsening day by day to the extent that he has lost most of his vision and one of his arms is paralyzed. 

Reza Khademi (another ward 350 political prisoner) is ina similar situation to Karimi and Rouhinejad in terms of the family's financial conditions. He has just been transferred from Ward 350 to Rejaei Shahr prison. 

Jamshid Sadegh Hosseini, an employee of the Nuclear Energy Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, was arrested based on the charge of spying and has been sentenced to life in prison. He and his lawyers have denied the accusations. He has been transferred from Ward 350 to section-2 (andarzgah-2) of Rejaei Shahr prison, which is known to be where murderers and armed criminals are detained.

Majid Dorri and Zia Nabavi Expected to be Exiled Soon

Majid Dorri is a student activist who is currently detained in Ward 350 of Evin, and has been sentenced to 6 years in prison without parole, 5 years of which is supposed to be spent in exile. The destination for Majid Dorri's exile is Izeh prison. He is another of the 17 hunger strikers of Ward350 who went on a two-week long hunger strike to protest the offensive behavior of the prison guards and officials, as well as the inhumane conditions of the detention in Ward350. 

Majid Dorri, due to his protest of the mismanagement and heavily policed atmosphere of Allameh University, was initially suspended for several semesters in 2007 and then expelled from the university and finally banned from all higher education institutions in his country. In 2008 Dorri together with some other students who were similarly expelled and banned from higher education, AKA "ill-starred students", initiated a committee to defend their rights to pursue higher education.

During the pre-election presidential candidates' debates and after the incumbent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, denied the existence of ill-starred students, Majid Dorri together with the other committee members, participated in a demonstration to raise awareness about the existence of these students, who were arbitrarily banned from education.

The initial trial investigating the accusations against Majid Dorri was held on November 24, 2009, which resulted in sentencing him to 11 years in prison, charging him with outrageous accusations of "moharebeh" (the act of armed battle), attempt against national security and disturbance of the public order. This sentence was revised to 6 years in prison in the appeals court. However, the sentence banishing him to the Izeh prison is still pending. During his 13 months of detention he has sent many letters and pettitions to the judiciary officials via his family, none of which has deemed a response. These days, especially after effectiveness of the exiled imprisonment of other prisoners of Ward350, the concerns and worries of Majid Dorri's family about his case is growing.

Majid's family have also been asking for a revision in his exile sentence, and have petitioned the Tehran Prosecutor to accept their request to avoid transfer of their loved one to Izeh prison. Dorri's family live in Karaj and his transfer to Izeh prison would cause enormous psychological and financial burden and difficulties for them regarding their visits.

Zia Nabavi is another student activist who has received an exiled imprisonment sentence. He is a graduate of philosophy from Noushirvan University of Babol, and an ill-starred student member of the committee to defend education rights, who was arrested last year during the events after Iran's 10th presidential election and was sent to Evin. This student, who was mainly arrested for his activism to defend his education rights, and his participation in the demonstrations organized for the same cause, all of which took place in advance of the election, has been sentenced to 11 years imprisonment without parole, and exile to Izeh prison.

In the preliminary court directed by judge Pir Abbassi Zia Nababi was handed an outrageous sentence of 15 years in prison, which was reduced to 11 years in the appeals court. However, his sentence banishing him to Izeh prison is pending, which is what his family are strongly protesting and asking the Tehran Prosecutor to cancel. Their strong objection to this sentence ari8ses from the fact that Izeh is located in Southern Iran and since they live in Northern Iran, it would be extremely difficult for them to visit him in this prison. Zia Nabavi was also one of the 17 prisoners of Ward 350 who went on hunger strike for two weeks in protest of the inhumane conditions of the prison and the offensive behavior of the prison officials.

Posted via email from lissping