Sepideh Gholian was deported from Evin Prison to Bushehr Prison
Sepideh Gholian, a imprisoned civil activist, was deported from the women's ward of Evin Prison to Bushehr Prison in the late hours of Wednesday night, March 10. Sepideh Gholian had been serving her five-year sentence in the women's ward of Evin Prison since July of this year.
According to HRANA News Agency, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, in the late hours of Wednesday night, March 10, 2020, Sepideh Gholian, a imprisoned civil activist, was deported from Evin Prison to Bushehr Prison.
Ms. Gholian was deported from the women's ward of Evin Prison at 11 p.m. last night, handcuffed and shackled. The distance between Bushehr Prison and Dezful, where Sepideh Gholian's parents live, is more than 600 kilometers, and the deportation to Bushehr Prison took place despite Ms. Gholian having repeatedly requested to be transferred to Sepidar Prison in Ahvaz due to the distance between her family.
On Tuesday, March 19, Maryam Akbari Monfared, another political prisoner imprisoned in the women's ward of Evin Prison, was also deported to Semnan Prison. Also, on Sunday, February 25, 2020, Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraei, a political prisoner from Qarchak Prison in Varamin, was deported to Amol Prison. On December 5, HRANA announced the transfer of three other prisoners, including Sepideh Farhan and Mozhgan Keshavarz, from the women's political ward of Evin Prison to Qarchak Prison in Varamin. Also, earlier on October 20, Yasman Ariani and her mother Monireh Arabshahi were transferred from Evin Prison to Kachouei Prison in Karaj, and Samaneh Nowruz Moradi was transferred to Lakan Prison in Rasht. In addition, between October 19 and November 7, Nasrin Sotoudeh and Maryam Ebrahimvand were sent to Qarchak Prison in Varamin, and Sakineh Parvaneh to Quchan Prison.
The transfer of a number of these prisoners was carried out without prior notice and suddenly. Also, these citizens were deprived of taking their belongings with them during the transfer, especially at the beginning of the cold season and the need for warm clothes. In recent months, Evin Prison officials and the Prisons Organization have visited the ward several times and spoken to the prisoners. In one of these cases, the deputy judicial officer of Evin Prison, while disclaiming responsibility, announced that these transfers were made on the orders of other institutions and that they only had an executive role in this matter. This official stated that the reason for the sudden transfers was the possible resistance of the prisoners and told the prisoners that if you cooperate with us, you will be informed in advance in future cases.
Sepideh Gholian was arrested on November 17, 2018, along with at least 19 people, including all members of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Workers' Representative Assembly, several labor activists, and a number of company employees and managers who had appeared at the security police to follow up on the status of the detainees, at the Shush security police station, and was released on bail on December 17 of the same year. During the broadcast of the forced confessions of Sepideh Gholian, Esmaeil Bakhshi, and several others by the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation, these two citizens had stated before the broadcast of the documentary that the Ministry of Intelligence and other security forces had tortured them. They were arrested again by security forces hours after these statements.
Sepideh Gholian was temporarily released from prison on November 25, 2019, after posting bail pending the completion of the trial. On December 13, 2019, she was sentenced to five years in prison by the Tehran Provincial Court of Appeal.
Ms. Gholian was finally arrested on July 25 of this year after appearing at the Evin Courthouse's Sentence Execution Unit and transferred to Evin Prison to serve her sentence.
Source: HRANA
