His Excellency Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani
Head of the Judiciary
Islamic Republic of Iran
His Excellency Mohmmad Javad Larijani
Head of the Judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights
Islamic Republic of Iran
Your Excellencies:
We are writing to you to express our concerns and to ask for information regarding recent developments in Ward 350 of Tehran’s Evin Prison, and to seek clarification and further information regarding the treatment of “security prisoners” in Iran more generally.
April 17, 2014 Incidents in Ward 350 of Evin Prison
On April 17, 2014, reports of severe beatings of prisoners in Evin Prison’s Ward 350 by prison personnel circulated on the internet. Iran’s judiciary immediately denied the reports. However, Human Rights Watch and other human rights groups have subsequently gathered further information, including from relatives of prisoners who spoke with victims of beatings and saw their injuries, confirming that severe beatings did take place.
Human Rights Watch is not in a position to determine what led to the April 17 altercations in Ward 350, but information we have collected confirms the following:
- Several dozen plainclothes and uniformed prison personnel, including guards equipped with anti-riot gear, entered and waited outside the approximately 10 rooms in Ward 350, demanding that prisoners leave the room so they can search the premises. Some were carrying video cameras.
- Some prisoners refused to leave their rooms during the search, allegedly for fear of losing their personal belongings. Others who left voluntarily or after facing threats by the guards went into an adjacent courtyard.
- Verbal and physical altercations broke out between some guards and a few prisoners who refused to leave their rooms.
- Guards violently dragged out about 30 prisoners who had refused to leave their rooms. Once outside the prisoners were confronted by other guards in the hallway and stairs leading out of the ward.
- These 30 or so prisoners were forced to walk through the hallway as guards, who had lined up on two sides of the hallway, in formation, punched, kicked, and beat them with batons. Some guards targeted the prisoners’ heads, while others aimed at their bodies, arms, and legs. Verbal harassment and insults accompanied the beatings.
- Prison authorities sent some prisoners who had sustained more serious injuries from the beatings to the infirmary. A few appear to have been sent to a local hospital. Most were transferred to solitary confinement cells, possibly in Ward 240 (parts of which are under the control of security and intelligence units).
- Guards ransacked the rooms during their searches, reportedly destroying both personal and communal items. They allegedly found contraband in some rooms, including mobile phones, according to government officials.
- Guards also beat some of the prisoners who had gathered in the courtyard during the search and witnessed the beatings of the 30. Some of the guards also destroyed personal and communal property of prisoners which was located in the courtyard, including clothes.
- After news of the altercations and beatings spread, relatives of the prisoners in War 350 demanded to see their loved ones. Some gathered in front of the presidential office in Tehran. Officials told them that there had been no altercations or beatings in Ward 350.
- On April 21, the Monday after the incident, relatives of some of the Ward 350 prisoners went to Evin Prison for their weekly visits. The authorities apparently prevented a few prisoners, believed to have been transferred to solitary confinement cells in the prison or to other locations, from meeting with their families.
- Some relatives who met with prisoners reported seeing some who had sustained bruises, while others had fresh wounds on their heads, necks, faces, hands, and legs. A few seemed to have suffered broken bones. Some prisoners had had their heads and facial hair shaved.
- On April 22, during a program that aired on state television, then head of Iran’s Prisons Organization, Gholamhossein Esmaeli, reiterated that no prisoners were beaten, that the search was routine, and that any physical altercation that had occurred was initiated by the prisoners themselves. Iran’s state broadcasting aired a few video images purportedly depicting scenes from the search operation in several of the rooms in Ward 350 and contraband allegedly confiscated.
- On April 23, Iran’s Judiciary announced it had removed Esmaeili from the Prisons Organization and assigned him to a post as head of Tehran’s judiciary. Judiciary authorities denied any connection between Esmaeili’s removal and beatings that allegedly occurred in Ward 350.
- On May 14, government spokesperson Mohamed-Bagher Nobakht said the government would launch an investigation into what happened in Ward 350 on April 17 and thereafter. On May 10, Iran’s Justice Minister, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, downplayed the scope of any government investigation and said all necessary investigations had already been conducted.
Authorities harassed, summoned, and even arrested a few family members of the Ward 350 prisoners in connection with their activities following the April 17 incident.
In light of the foregoing information, Human Rights Watch submits the following questions:
- Has the judiciary launched an investigation of the incidents in Ward 350 on April 17? Is the judiciary cooperating, in any capacity, with the ad hoc investigating committee announced by the government?
- Has the judiciary investigated or disciplined any government official, including Gholamhossein Esmaeili, in connection with these events? If so, what disciplinary action has been taken?
- Did authorities transfer any prisoners who were detained in Ward 350 of Evin Prison as of April 17, 2014 to solitary confinement, the prison infirmary, or other locations inside or outside Evin Prison? If so, how many prisoners were transferred out of Ward 350 since April 17, 2014, and for what reason(s)? How many of these prisoners are still being detained outside their ordinary cells in Ward 350?
- Have any prisoners in Ward 350 as of April 17, 2014 been disciplined since that day? If so, who, and what was the nature of the disciplinary actions taken?
- Have any prisoners in Ward 350 as of April 17, 2014 complained of injuries suffered on that date or thereafter? If so, what was the nature of the treatment they received?
- Have any prisoners in Ward 350 as of April 17, 2014 been treated by prison doctors or others since that date? If so, who and what was the nature of the treatment they received?
- Has the judiciary (or members of the security and intelligence forces working in collaboration with or at the behest of the judiciary) warned, summoned, arrested or detained any family members of prisoners imprisoned in Ward 350 (or other individuals) on or after April 17, 2014? If so, what is the basis of these actions?
General Treatment of “National Security” Prisoners
The reports surrounding the beatings of prisoners in War 350 raise larger questions about treatment of the country’s “national security” prisoners. These include individuals convicted in Iran’s revolutionary courts for allegedly violating the country’s national security laws, but who Human Rights Watch has reason to believe have been unlawfully convicted and sentenced solely for their political beliefs or their exercise of fundamental rights such as free speech, peaceful assembly, and association.
Human Rights Watch believes there are hundreds of individuals currently unlawfully detained in Iran’s prisons for “national security” offenses. These prisoners include journalists, rights defenders, civil society activists, political opposition members, and members of ethnic and religious minorities who may not consider themselves activists but against whom the government imputes a level of activism (or consider them “national security” threats simply because of their peaceful exercise of fundamental rights). In many cases, we believe that their prosecution and continued detention violates Iran’s constitution, which mandates that the law must define “political offenses” and prosecute alleged offenders in the presence of a jury.
We understand that Iran’s judiciary maintains that there are no political prisoners in Iran, and that these individuals are serving sentences for endangering the country’s national security. Yet it is the case Iran’s judiciary generally distinguishes between “national security” and other prisoners serving time for ordinary crimes such as murder, rape, and drug trafficking. In many prisons, “national security” prisoners are detained separately from other prisoners.
Putting aside the issue of whether these individuals should be in prison to begin with, all prisoners should be afforded legal protections and guarantees under Iranian and international law which both afford those convicted, including prisoners sentenced to death, protections from cruel, inhumane, abusive, or insulting actions.
Iran’s constitution, the criminal procedure code, the penal code, and regulations implemented by Iran’s Prisons Organization (which oversees the administration of Iran’s prisons and operates under the authority of the judiciary) all provide certain guarantees and protections preserving the dignity of the accused during trial, imprisonment, and the implementation of punishments including execution.
Over the past few years Human Rights Watch has documented widespread abuses against “national security” prisoners. Violations include physical and psychological abuse or ill-treatment (some of which amounts to torture), harassment and insults denigrating the dignity of the prisoner, forcibly extracted confessions, prolonged periods of solitary confinement or incommunicado detention, prevention of access to necessary medical services, mixing of “national security” prisoners with the ordinary prison population, and unannounced transfers between prisons or detention facilities (including imprisonment far away from the prisoner’s hometown or the location of the commission of the alleged crime). For example, Human Rights Watch research suggests that much of the mistreatment of “national security” prisoners in Tehran is believed to take place during pretrial detention, and in Wards 209, 240, and 2A, which are believed to be under the control of security and intelligence forces including the national police, the Intelligence Ministry, and the Revolutionary Guards.
In light of these concerns and our belief that this latest incident in Ward 350 is symptomatic of problems that exist in Iran’s prisons, particularly with regard to treatment of the country’s “national security” detainees, we submit the following further questions:
- During the past five years, how many government officials, regardless of rank or position, have been investigated by the judiciary or other governmental bodies for alleged ill-treatment or abuse of prisoners?
- Does the Iran Prisons Organization control, manage, or otherwise have access to all locations within Wards 209, 240, and 2A in Evin Prison?
- What are the procedures and criteria used to determine when, and for how long, a prisoner will be transferred to solitary confinement?
- Are any “national security” prisoners in Evin Prison currently detained in rooms or wards with individuals sentenced to prison for crimes unrelated to “national security” such as rape or murder? If so, what is the reason for mixing these prison populations?
- What are the procedures and criteria used to determine when to transfer “national security prisoners” to hospitals or medical care facilities outside prison so they can receive adequate or necessary medical treatment?
- What is the legal or regulatory basis of the unannounced transfer of prisoners, including “security prisoners,” including their relocation to prisons far away from their place of residence (or the location of the alleged crime)?
We thank you for your attention to these matters. While we have noted the new government’s stated commitment to improving the human rights situation in Iran, it goes without saying that any efforts to achieve this stated goal will require the cooperation of the judiciary, which should play a critical role in the protection of citizens’ rights, including those of prisoners.
We plan to issue a press release regarding the incidents which took place in Ward 350 of Tehran’s Evin Prison on April 17 and thereafter, and would very much appreciate receiving responses to our questions by June 2, 2014. We will reflect any response we receive by that date.
Sincerely,
Sarah Leah Whitson
Executive Director
Middle East and North Africa Division
