Two young female political prisoners, Yasamin Ariani and
Saba Kord Afshari in an open letter from Evin Prison reacted to an article
published in the Iran official daily newspaper describing the situation of
political prisoners as favorable.
On January 17, the official Iran daily newspaper claimed
that “The security (political) convicts have no problems and are in the best
situation in terms of phone calls, family visits and using medical facilities.”
Yasamin Ariani and Saba Kord Afshari stated in their
open letter that, “All of these claims are unfounded and false. The women’s
ward of Evin Prison did not have a telephone for many years, and the only way
the prisoners could contact their family was a weekly 20-minutes visit. After a
series of follow-ups, a telephone was finally brought in the ward”. The
activities included a 20-day hunger strike by some of the loved ones. Despite
the efforts we made, it did not work out, and instead of 60 minutes of
telephone calls per week, each person only has 30 minutes, that means only
three days a week for 10 minutes.” They
also pointed out the visitation ban of two political prisoners, couples Golrokh
Iraee and Arash Sadeghi and that they have been banned to see each other for 10
months. Yasamin Ariani and Saba Kord Afshari also noted that women political
prisoners had to go on a hunger strike for access to dental care after a year
of follow-up.
In part of their letter referring to political prisoner,
Maryam Akbari Monfared, Yasamin Ariani and Saba Kord Afshari wrote, “According
to the law of prisons, every prisoner is granted a three to five day leave
every two months, while there are those here after 10 years of their
imprisonment have not been granted leave despite having the leaving conditions.”
In the end, they pointed out the shortage of food
distribution, which has had a harmful effect on the female political prisoners.
Yasamin Ariani and Saba Kord Afshari were arrested in
Tehran during the protests in August 2018 and sentenced to one year in prison.
They are currently detained in the women’s ward of Evin Prison.
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Iranian regime officials have ordered 1,800 children to
be separated from their imprisoned mothers.
According to the state-run ILNA news agency Jan. 26, Mohammad
Nefriyeh, director general of the Children and Youth affairs in the Welfare
Organization, said, “According to a memorandum between the Welfare Organization
and the Prison Organisations, all children above two years of age who live with
their mothers in prison, must be delivered to the Welfare Organization, because
the prison environment will have a very bad instructional and educational
effect on the children.”
He added: “We are not responsible for the establishment
of a nursery in prisons. Prison conditions are special security conditions.
Therefore, it is not possible to establish a nursery in prison.” “There are
currently 1,800 children at welfare centers whose mothers are imprisoned, and
until the mother is released and has the conditions to take care of her child,
the child will be kept at the welfare center.”
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A woman only identified as M.A. was hanged Wednesday
morning, January 30, in the Prison of Nowshahr, in the northern Iranian
province of Mazandaran. She had been imprisoned for six years on death row on
the charge of deliberate murder. She is the 87th woman who is hanged during
Hassan Rouhani’s tenure as the Iranian regime’s president.
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Ms Parvin Mohammadi, Vice President of the Free Union
of Iran Workers, was arrested on Tuesday, January 29. Parvian Mohammadi was arrested
a few hours after the arrest and detention of Mr. Jafar Azimzadeh, Secretary of
the Board of Directors of the Free Union of Iran Workers. Parvin was arrested
by SSF (State Security Forces)agents in Fardis, Karaj, and all her personal belongings including her
lap top and cellphone were confiscated.
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According to state-run Borna news agency, New vice
patrols are launched in Qom (140 KM south of Tehran, Iran’s capital) to further
crack down on women on the pretext of improper veiling. Abdol-reza Aghakhani,
commander of the State Security Force in Qom Province, announced that in
cooperation with the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Qom, the new vice
patrols have been launched.
Aghakhani said, “Everyone should know that Qom is not a
place for such acts (i.e. improper veiling) and all the moral standards must be
observed in Qom. To deal with the women who have out-of-norm appearance in
observing the Hijab, which would lead to social ailments, the traffic police is
determined to deal seriously with female drivers who do not observe the Islamic
veil.” On the treatment of women by the new vice patrols in Qom, Aghakhani
said, “The vehicles of improperly veiled women are going to be impounded for a
week and transferred to the parking in cooperation with the Judiciary. Also,
those drivers who cause sonic pollution (i.e. play loud music in their cars) in
the city will be seriously dealt with. Their cars will be impounded and towed
to the parking and they will be fined.”
Since the creation of Islamic State in Iran, 40 years
ago, imposing Hijab on women, has been a loosing battle for the Iranian regime,
despite its 24 hour propaganda.
