Joint Appeal by Evin Prison Inmates to Islamic Republic Authorities: “Serious Attention” to Prison Conditions

A group of inmates detained in Ward 8 of Evin Prison, with the onset of the fourth wave of coronavirus spread in Iran and the expansion of this virus in Iranian prisons, have issued a statement demanding “immediate and urgent special coronavirus furloughs.”

According to reports published on social media, these inmates, some of whom are reportedly foreign nationals, on Sunday, April 12 (22 Farvardin), released this statement and, referring to the infection of at least two inmates in Ward 8 of Evin Prison and three prison personnel with coronavirus, demanded serious attention from officials to prison conditions.

Part of this statement reads: “We inmates—whether political, financial, or otherwise, and even foreign nationals—in Ward 8 of Evin Prison, given the dangerous peak that has emerged and in line with the strict orders of the Coronavirus Response Headquarters, which has prohibited any gatherings, insist on the immediate and urgent issuance of special coronavirus furloughs to all inmates, and we consider this action to be one of the demands of the families of thousands of prisoners throughout the country.”

Previously, Voice of America published a message on Twitter stating that Behnam Safaei (Bakhtash Abtin), a member of the Iranian Writers Association who is serving his sentence in Ward 8 of Evin Prison, was admitted to Evin Prison’s clinic on April 5 (15 Farvardin) due to contracting coronavirus and the worsening of disease symptoms.

It is reported that Abtin, after five days of hospitalization in the prison clinic despite incomplete treatment, was returned to the inmate population.

The signatories of this statement, while warning Islamic Republic authorities about preventing any unfortunate incidents in prisons, are demanding furloughs for thousands of inmates throughout the country who “are forced to live collectively and in very close proximity to one another.”

It was in early March 2020 when, with the outbreak and spread of coronavirus in Iran, through a new circular by Ibrahim Raisi, Chief of the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic, the release of political and ideological prisoners from Iranian prisons began. In one of the provisions of this circular, it stated that political prisoners charged with “acting against national security” who have been sentenced to more than five years in prison are “exempted from furlough.” This is despite the fact that most political prisoners charged with this offense have sentences exceeding five years.

The issuance of this circular was met with reactions from political prisoners and some human rights activists. Previously, the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation, in a detailed report on Iranian prisons, a copy of which was provided to Voice of America, in addition to issuing warnings about the situation of political and ideological prisoners and the judiciary’s failure to provide furloughs and health facilities to them, referred to unjustified arrests, including the arrest of “someone who was detained for about two weeks in Tabriz Prison for purchasing a stolen mobile phone and was sent to the hospital in early April with coronavirus symptoms, where he died.”

The United States has repeatedly and in various instances condemned violent crackdowns and widespread suppression of protesters and civil activists, as well as the repeated and continuous violation of the rights of Iranian citizens by the Islamic Republic.