Latest Response from Iran’s Judicial Officials to Evin Prison Videos: ‘A Few Guards’ Committed Violations

In the latest response to the publication of hacked videos by the cybersecurity group “Adl Ali,” the spokesperson for Iran’s judiciary reduced the violation of prisoners’ rights shown in the released videos to “misconduct by a few guards” and said it should not be attributed to “all employees” of the prison organization.

Zobaidollah Khodaian said on Tuesday, September 9, that “violators” faced legal action and added: “Six people were identified and four were referred to military court and two to the revolutionary court, and some are under arrest, and for two others an order to summon has been issued and some of the violators faced action at the time.”

The spokesman for Iran’s judiciary also said “some acted unjustly and said that officials do not care about prisoners’ rights. Mr. Mohseni Ezhe has been heading the judiciary apparatus for about two months.” Before him, Ebrahim Raisi was the head of the judicial branch.

According to reports, Zobaidollah Khodaian described the released films from Evin prison as “contrary to law” and “unjustifiable” and said that “on this basis the judiciary insists on dealing with violators.”

Iran’s judicial spokesman said: “We should not attribute the violations of a few guards to all the hardworking employees of this organization. In any case, in every level there are violators who will certainly be dealt with.”

These remarks are being published at a time when mistreatment and beatings of prisoners occurred in front of surveillance cameras to which higher-ranking prison officials had access.

Khodaian, stating that some prisoners are people who perhaps “not even one of them could be tolerated even in one city,” again called the hacked videos of Evin prison security cameras “edited” and emphasized: “These films were broadcast consecutively and people might think we witness these cases every day, but this is not correct.”

Activists, human rights groups, and former prisoners have repeatedly warned about mistreatment of inmates in Islamic Republic prisons, and judicial authorities had previously repeatedly denied these claims. However, with the release of hacked prison videos, officials remained silent for a while, then responded to those images, and now it appears they are again trying to downplay them.

In this regard, a legal expert told the ILNA news agency: “No matter how heinous a crime is, there is no justification for using violence against an accused to prove it.”

According to Mohsen Shahin, a lawyer, one of the factors behind violent behavior toward prisoners is the increase in prison populations.

Some Islamic Republic officials in recent days have questioned the authenticity of images leaked from Evin. Mohammad Mossadegh, First Vice President of Iran’s judiciary, on Sunday called “many of these broadcast images” “edited” and said these images “have nothing to do with the prison at all.”

Khodaian also raised the “editing” issue and said: “Those who released it, edited it and put it together and it could be from months and years ago and we should not think that we have such things in prison every day.”

Amnesty International last week in response to the leaked images from Evin stated that these images show “horrific abuse of prisoners and a reminder of the immunity granted to prison authorities in Iran who subject detainees to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.”

Amnesty International says images of prisoner mistreatment at Evin are only the tip of the iceberg of the torture epidemic in Iran.

• Zarif Audio File

Zobaidollah Khodaian also in his first press conference as the judiciary spokesman referred to the case of the publication of an audio file of Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s former foreign minister, and said in this regard “a file has been formed at the Tehran revolutionary prosecutor’s office” and “more than 20 people were summoned as informed parties and reasons and evidence have been collected and the file is for summoning the accused or accused that in a question I had from the Tehran prosecutor’s office in the coming days action will be taken regarding summoning these accused and we must wait for the result of the file.”

A multi-hour audio file of a conversation between Saeid Leilaz and Mohammad Javad Zarif leaked to media in April this year, with the conversation reportedly recorded under the supervision of the Center for Strategic Research under Iran’s presidency to review the performance of the government regarding the Iranian government.

At that time, news agencies and media close to Iran’s security institutions identified Hossam Al-Din Eshena, then head of the Center for Strategic Research under the presidency, as responsible for leaking the audio file.

Khodaian also referred to the case of a number of lawyers and civil activists critical of Iran’s poor coronavirus management who were arrested last month and described their charges as “disrupting order and some crimes against security.”

These lawyers and activists were arrested after planning to file complaints against some high-ranking Islamic Republic officials including Ayatollah Khamenei who restricted vaccine imports into the country.

Khodaian said about these arrests: “About nine people were referred to judicial authorities in this regard and four were released on the first day itself. Five were arrested with bail and two of them have so far been released by accepting bail.”

While coronavirus in Iran continues to claim many lives due to the ineffective policies of Islamic Republic officials, there has been strong support for the arrested lawyers and activists.

The human rights website Hrana wrote on Monday, September 8, that the Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers’ Professional Associations, by issuing a statement, protested these arrests and described the ban on American and British vaccine imports by the leader of the Islamic Republic as “genocide of the people.”

Source: Voice of America