On September 23, the Iranian judiciary confirmed the death of Shahin Nasseri, a prisoner detained in the Greater Tehran Central prison who allegedly witnessed the torture and forced confession of former fellow inmate Navid Afkari, who was executed last year, when they were both detained in Shiraz prison.

The judiciary said that Nasseri died “45 minutes after being taken to a health clinic and the cause of death is under investigation.” A source in Tehran prison reported Nasseri’s death on September 21. Nasseri had apparently been transferred to solitary confinement on the anniversary of Afkari’s death.

According to tweets by Babak Paknia, Nasseri’s former lawyer, Nasseri had called him multiple times on September 20 asking for representation. An audio file circulated on social media this month, allegedly of Nasseri’s voice, details how Nasseri’s interrogators threatened him with physical violence.

In a handwritten letter published in September 2019, Afkari detailed the torture he experienced in two Shiraz detention centers, including beatings and near suffocation by detention authorities. A handwritten letter by Nasseri testifying that he witnessed Afkari being beaten by his interrogators was also among the documents Afkari’s defense team had submitted to authorities for the investigation into Afkari’s torture. An appeals court dismissed Afkari’s torture allegations in April 2020 and the state executed him in September 2020.

Afkari and his brother Vahid Afkari were arrested in September 2018 on charges including murder as well as participation in illegal demonstrations, insulting Iran’s supreme leader, robbery, and “enmity against God.” Afkari’s brother has remained in solitary confinement since last year.

According to Amnesty International, since 2010, at least 72 people have died in custody in Iranian prisons, while authorities have failed to provide accountability despite credible reports of torture and ill-treatment.