Prisoners Whose Freedom Cost Them Their Lives
Behnam Mahjoubi, a political prisoner, died six days after being transferred to the intensive care unit of Laqman Hospital. Saleha Hosseini, Behnam Mahjoubi’s wife, told Radio Farda that disregard for doctors’ opinion regarding his inability to withstand imprisonment, failure to provide timely medical care, and delay in transferring him to the hospital worsened his physical condition and ultimately led to the coma that cost this political prisoner his life.
Mr. Mahjoubi was sentenced to two years in prison after participating in a Gonabadi Dervish gathering in Tehran in February 2018, and his sentence was carried out on June 22 despite a medical opinion stating he could not withstand imprisonment.
The process that took Behnam Mahjoubi’s life within a few months has been repeated for many other political and ideological prisoners, and over the past years, dozens of these prisoners have lost their lives in prison.
According to Islamic Republic laws, the judiciary and prison organization are responsible for the health of prisoners; however, officials of these institutions, along with security agencies, evade accountability and refuse to accept responsibility through cover-ups, falsification of narratives, and pressure on families of prisoners and the deceased.
From Ali-Akbar Saidi Sirjani, a writer who was abducted on March 14, 1994 by Ministry of Intelligence agents on a street and killed in prison on December 26, 1994 after nine months of not being heard from, labeled as natural death, to Behnam Mahjoubi, whom the General Administration of Prisons claimed “of his own will and decision and without consulting a doctor, arbitrarily consumed several of his own medications and those of others in prison simultaneously.”
Saeed Emami, a high-ranking Ministry of Intelligence official and prime suspect in serial killings, in a speech in Hamadan whose audio file was released, said that Ali-Akbar Saidi Sirjani was given one of his favorite foods in prison—hulled barley—and because this food causes constipation and intestinal blockage, instead of a laxative enema, interrogators gave him “an enema made of potassium,” an enema that stopped Saidi Sirjani’s heart and took his life.
The cause of his death was declared a heart attack. However, former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani wrote in his memoirs that “Mr. Mohammad Yazdi, head of the judicial branch, told the medical-legal report regarding the death of Mr. Saidi Sirjani in prison, which was natural death.”
There is no precise statistics on the number of prisoners who have lost their lives in the Islamic Republic’s prisons, but in the earliest years following the victory of the 1979 Revolution and the establishment of the Islamic Republic government, and in the 1980s, no explanation was given regarding the cause of prisoners’ deaths, and prisoners killed under torture were only handed over as bodies to their families, without their families having the right to question the fate of their children.
In recent years, however, in many cases, Islamic Republic officials have claimed that prisoners committed suicide, or have tried to portray their deaths as natural deaths. This is while families have repeatedly stated in media interviews about the systematic elimination of their children by the judicial and security system due to torture or denial of access to medical facilities.
Akbar Mohammadi
During clashes at Tehran University in July 1999, Akbar Mohammadi, a student activist, was arrested along with his brother Manouchehr Mohammadi and was initially sentenced to death. Although his death sentence was later changed to 15 years in prison, Mr. Mohammadi lost his life in Evin Prison in 2006.
Golkhan Ashraf Pour, his mother, explained the process of her son’s death in prison: “Akbar was severely tormented in prison. He was tortured. He was broken. He had three surgeries. The doctor said he should not return to prison and prison conditions were lethal for him. According to the doctor’s testimony, my son’s body had become infected in prison and he needed to go abroad for treatment. But they returned him to prison. No matter how much we protested, we said he needs rest, he needs treatment, and the doctor testified, they would not accept it. When they took Akbar, I felt he would not return. When he returned to prison, he went on a hunger strike in protest. They paid no attention and did not allow him to be treated.
The cause of Akbar Mohammadi’s death was declared by prison officials to be a heart attack.
Hadi Saber
In June 2011, the body of Hadi Saber was removed from Evin Prison. A religious activist who went on a hunger strike in protest of events leading to Hale Sahabi’s death, he lost his life as a result of a heart attack caused by his hunger strike. Farida Jamshidi, Mr. Saber’s wife, announced that “my husband died due to the negligence and lack of attention of prison officials to his condition.”
Firouzeh Saber, Hadi Saber’s sister, explained: “My brother had a bad episode at four in the morning on Friday, he had severe chest pain, and whatever he and his cellmates said, prison officials would not pay attention. He had two heart attacks and they still paid no attention, and after about six hours they take him to Modares Hospital, when it was already too late. They took him too late, and this delay caused my brother to lose his life.”
Sixty-four political prisoners who were cellmates with Mr. Saber in ward 350 testified in a letter that “Hadi Saber on the eighth day of his hunger strike in the clinic was severely beaten by individuals believed to be security and intelligence officers.” The Saber family also filed a complaint with the judiciary stating “They must explain how they take someone who has gone on a hunger strike and is sick to a clinic and instead of treating him, beat him up? This is a tragedy and we will not let it pass.”
Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ezhei, former spokesman of the judiciary, however, on the eve of the first anniversary of Hadi Saber’s death, claimed that he died of natural causes and that the latest medical-legal opinions announced that no one was responsible in this matter.
Alborz Qasemi-Shal
First Lieutenant and Deputy Commander of the Special Forces in Rasht, according to his family, was in perfect health on April 14, 2008 when he was arrested, but his body came out of prison. Hamid Qasemi-Shal, Alborz’s brother, who witnessed his brother’s blindness and subsequent death in prison, said: “In a visit, he told my sister that his eyes were getting blurry. We said it was the effects of prison and his eyes had weakened. At the dinner table I asked Alborz what are you doing? He said I can’t see anything. I said what do you mean? He said all I see is darkness, I can’t see anything. We took Alborz to the prison clinic and brought an eye specialist, he looked and said there’s nothing wrong. I said he can’t see. He said he’s faking it. From that day on, my brother’s health declined very rapidly, to the point that he couldn’t even bathe. He had completely lost his vision, and had no urinary control. The Evin Prison clinic took him several times but could no longer find his vein. The doctor wrote that he couldn’t withstand prison and should be with his family. But they refused. They claimed he had cancer and needed chemotherapy. However, Jafari Dolatabad (the prosecutor of Tehran at the time) refused. They kept my brother in the clinic so long that he fell into a coma. Then they took him to the emergency room of Shahid Beheshti Hospital and he died. They said he had stomach cancer that spread to his brain and caused brain bleeding. We don’t know if this claim is true, we only know that if they had given him the opportunity and permission for treatment, he might be alive now.”
The Qasemi-Shal brothers were charged with espionage and sentenced to death, but upon re-examination of the case, they were acquitted of the charges and Hamid Qasemi-Shal was released from prison.
Amirhossein Hashmatsaran
On March 7, 2009, Amirhossein Hashmatsaran, who had been imprisoned in Rajaishahr Prison in Karaj for more than four years, died in Rajaishahr Hospital.
Mohammad Reza Faqihi, Mr. Hashmatsaran’s lawyer, told Radio Farda that “the prison made no serious effort to treat the ill prisoner and given that the prison is responsible for prisoners’ health, the shortcomings of prison officials are evident.”
According to Mr. Hashmatsaran’s lawyer, this political prisoner had suffered from heart problems months earlier and “his condition had deteriorated many times.” Nevertheless, the Shahryar Revolutionary Prosecutor left the requests of Mr. Hashmatsaran’s wife, Alehe Nazjoo, for treatment of this prisoner unanswered.
Amirhossein Hashmatsaran was tried in 2004 on charges of founding a group called the “National Unity Front of Iran” and was sentenced to eight years in prison by the Shahryar Revolutionary Court.
Mohsen Dogmachi
On March 29, 2011, a well-known bazaar merchant who had been sentenced to 10 years in prison died while, according to his wife, he had no problems when arrested and was in perfect health.
Maryam Elanghi, Mr. Dogmachi’s wife, said: “The illness began in September 2010, exactly one year after his arrest and in prison. For three months they delayed taking him to a doctor and he was not examined, and when they decided to take him to a specialist, it was already too late. They took him to the hospital and performed abdominal surgery. They removed part of his tonsils and at that time diagnosed him with cancer. But the thing is, nobody dies in such a short time, and with medication and medical care, the disease is controlled, but my husband was deprived of treatment and within 95 days of the onset of his illness, he died. With proper medical care, this tragedy could have been completely avoided.”
Mr. Dogmachi’s wife said: “I went many times and said with whatever bail amount you want, just give him a few days of leave. Hospital bed leave so he can receive treatment and then you can take him back to prison, but they wouldn’t even agree to that. My husband only had six months of chemotherapy, if it had been done, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Vahid Sayyadi Nasiri
On December 12, 2018, Vahid Sayyadi Nasiri, who was charged with insulting sacred figures and the Supreme Leader and propaganda against the system due to his Facebook activities and sentenced to two and a half years in prison, died while his sister Alehe Sayyadi Nasiri told Radio Farda that he had been on hunger strike for several days.
Vahid Sayyadi Nasiri had gone on hunger strike in protest of non-compliance with the principle of separating prisoners according to their crimes.
Mansour Radpur
In June 2012, Mansour Radpur died in prison while, according to his wife, he had no history of illness, but during imprisonment, he suffered from stomach problems throughout and complained about why he was not being transferred outside the prison for treatment.
His daughter Maha Radpur, who had visited her father two weeks prior, announced: “The medical examiner said the cause of death was a stroke, but when we saw my father’s body, it didn’t look like someone who had died from a stroke. His entire body was bruised and wounded and there were signs of beating on his body. I’m sure they killed him because someone who has a stroke doesn’t become so battered and beaten.”
Mr. Radpur was arrested in May 2007 and was sentenced to five years in prison by the Karaj Islamic Revolutionary Court on charges of cooperating with the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran, which was later increased to eight years.
Shahrokh Zamani
Shahrokh Zamani, a building painter and labor activist who had been imprisoned since 2011 on charges of attempting to form labor organizations, including the Painters’ Union, and sentenced to 11 years in prison, died on September 13, 2015 in Rajaishahr Prison.
Prison officials declared the cause of death to be a stroke, but Nina Zamani, Mr. Zamani’s daughter, announced that her father “had no physical problems and was in perfect health.”
Afshin Asanlo
The cause of Afshin Asanlo’s death on June 22, 2013 was declared by prison officials to be a heart attack. However, Farshte Asanlo, his sister, announced that her brother had no history of heart disease and was in good health at their last visit.
Farshte Asanlo told the International Human Rights Campaign that hospital nurses said he was brought to the hospital around 8 p.m., but he had died long before arriving at the hospital.
Afshin Asanlo, 42, a labor activist and brother of Mansour Asanlo, a member of the executive board of the United Bus Organization Union of Tehran and suburbs, was sentenced to five years in prison in 2009 on charges of conspiracy and assembly with the intent to act against national security.
Talib Basati
A nursing student and emergency worker from Malekshahi, Ilam, who was arrested in connection with December 2017 protests and died in prison. Jalal Mirzaei, the representative of Ilam in the Islamic Consultative Assembly at the time, declared the cause of his death to be a heart attack.
Mr. Basati was arrested on February 18, 2018 at his residence, and his body was handed over to his family on March 3 of the same year. The BBC reported that Mr. Basati’s death certificate stated that he died due to “traumatic brain injury” and there were signs of beating on the body of the deceased.
Mohammad Raji
In March 2018, Mohammad Raji’s daughter, one of the Gonabadi Dervishes, confirmed in an interview with Radio Farda that law enforcement officials had announced that her father had fallen into a coma due to blows received and died.
Tayebeh Raji said that her father had been severely beaten during arrest in early March of that year and was in serious condition, but moved his hand, and after that had no contact with the family.
The Noor Majzooban website, which covered news related to Gonabadi Dervishes, reported that Mr. Raji was killed as a result of blows received during interrogation at the police detention center.
Mohammad Raji was a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and was chemically wounded in the Iran-Iraq War.
Ali-Reza Shirmohammadi
On the evening of Monday, June 10, 2019, two prisoners attacked Ali-Reza Shirmohammadi in Fashafuyeh Prison and killed him. Mr. Shirmohammadi was arrested during the August 2018 protests and sentenced to eight years in prison.
This political prisoner was killed in prison while he had mostly gone on hunger strike in protest of personal insecurity and inhumane conditions in Fashafuyeh Prison.
Mohammad Hadi Erfanian Kasb, the lawyer of Ali-Reza Shirmohammadi, announced in an interview with ILNA that two murderers were also being held in solitary confinement in the same ward, which was always locked, but it is unclear how that night those two took Mr. Shirmohammadi into the cell and killed him.
Prisoners Said to Have Committed Suicide
Dozens of prisoners have died in the Islamic Republic’s prisons over the years, and their deaths were attributed by officials and judicial and security authorities to suicide.
Omid Reza Mirseyafi
A young blogger who was imprisoned on February 9, 2009, died 42 days later in Laqman Hospital, and prison officials declared the cause of death to be drug poisoning.
Omid Reza Mirseyafi had been sentenced to two and a half years in prison on charges of propaganda against the system and insulting the founder and leader of the Islamic Republic.
Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, Mr. Mirseyafi’s lawyer, told his family that in response to the autopsy, the cause of death was written as “consuming 30 to 40 propranolol pills.”
Amir Parviz Mirseyafi, Omid Reza’s brother, however, said in an interview: “I saw the body myself. His left ear had severe bleeding. His nose was full of blood clots. His face was bruised. His shoulders and lower back were bruised. He had a fractured skull. The sheet in which the body was wrapped under his head was completely bloodied. We were told that he had taken pills, his blood pressure dropped, and he died. This cannot be true and he was definitely beaten, I’m sure of that. I know that as a result of the beating, his condition worsened and he received no treatment and died.”
Dr. Hossam Firouzi, Omid Reza Mirseyafi’s cellmate, also testified that in the prison clinic, when Omid Reza insisted on receiving treatment, he was “beaten and told he was faking it.”
Kavous Seyed Amami
On February 11, 2018, Ramin Seyed Amami, son of Kavous Seyed Amami, announced on his Twitter page that his father died in prison two weeks after arrest, and prison authorities also declared the cause to be “suicide.” The family of Mr. Seyed Amami rejected this claim.
Kavous Seyed Amami, a sociology PhD and faculty member of the Faculty of Islamic Studies and Political Science at Imam Sadiq University, was simultaneously the CEO of the “Pars Heritage Wildlife Institute.”
Ibrahim Lotf Elahi
On January 6, 2008, Ibrahim Lotf Elahi, a Payame Noor University student from Sanandaj, was arrested in front of the university, and eight days later died in the city’s detention center.
Saleh Nikbakht, the lawyer of the Lotf Elahi family, said: “The court confirmed the investigator’s decision regarding suicide and declared that no crime had occurred. We objected and said that given that the medical-legal opinion referred to signs of beating and nasal bleeding, we again demand investigation and requested exhumation, but unfortunately neither the investigator nor the Sanandaj prosecutor agreed, and they said the previous medical-legal opinion had been issued and exhumation has no religious justification. They said he hanged himself with a shower rod in the prison bathroom and committed suicide. While we believed the matter should be clarified and the family should have peace of mind about what exactly happened, but unfortunately this was not allowed.”
Vali-Allah Feyz Mahdi
Vali-Allah Feyz Mahdi was arrested in September 2001, and on September 6, 2006, Evin Prison officials formally announced his death, claiming that “he hanged himself in his cell and died after being transferred to the hospital.”
He was arrested on charges of membership in the People’s Mujahedin Organization and was sentenced to death, and according to his cellmates, he had been on hunger strike in protest of the treatment by Gohardasht Prison officials for two weeks before falling into a coma and being transferred to Shariati Hospital.
Mohammad Javad Prandakh
Mohammad Javad Prandakh was a chemical engineering student at Isfahan University of Technology who, after participating in a student gathering at the university during the June 2009 protests, was summoned to the Isfahan Intelligence Office, and his lifeless body was found two days later.
Farhad Tajri, a member of parliament who was a member of the parliamentary follow-up committee, along with the head of information for Gilangharb, visited Mr. Prandakh’s home and asked them to announce that their son had died in an accident. However, the state news agency IRNA claimed that Mohammad Javad Prandakh was one of the main perpetrators of riots in Isfahan and had committed suicide.
The Prandakh family, rejecting these claims, filed a complaint seeking to clarify the murder of their son; a complaint that was not accepted and the case was closed without investigation. Sadegh Prandakh, his brother, said: “We are an ethnic minority and they won’t even hand us over, they won’t even accept our complaint, what can we do? How can we follow up? My parents also say you’re the only one left and we’re afraid something bad will happen to you. So we’ve left the case to God. God will judge.”
Vahid Heydari
Vahid Heydari, 22 years old, a street vendor and protester from Arak, was arrested on January 1, 2018, and his body was buried on Saturday, January 7, 2018.
Judicial officials charged him with buying and selling narcotics and claimed he committed suicide in the detention center. A claim that was rejected by Vahid Heydari’s uncle and civil activists and lawyers in Arak.
Mohammad Najafi, a lawyer, was arrested for pursuing the murder case of Vahid Heydari in prison.
Sina Qanbari
Sina Qanbari, a 22-year-old and another detainee from December 2017 protests, was arrested on December 10, 2017 in Tehran, and his body was handed over to his family on December 19.
Judicial authorities claimed that he committed suicide in the quarantine bathroom of Evin Prison, but the Follow-up Committee for December 2017 Arrests, quoting two “eyewitnesses,” announced that Sina Qanbari was interrogated two days before his death and “after arrest, told his cellmates that he had been beaten so severely that some parts of his body were heavily bruised.”
Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the General Prosecutor of the country, on December 12 of that year, claimed that Sina Qanbari was an addict and committed suicide. A project and scenario that was implemented for other prisoners killed in prison the same year.
Naser Alboshouke Darfshan, Mohammad Kaabi, and Reza Moghaddesi
Naser Alboshouke Darfshan, Mohammad Kaabi, and Reza Moghaddesi, three young Arabs who were arrested in Ahvaz in March 2012 during unrest in the cities of Shush and Hamidiyeh.
Naser Alboshouke, a 19-year-old who, according to his family, had no political activity or connection with the unrest in Shush and Hamidiyeh: “They said he committed suicide while there were signs of beating on Naser’s face, chest, and body. His neck was bruised and it seemed a rope had been around his neck before. Then they said you have no right to hold a ceremony. My uncle protested and they didn’t hand over the body. They took Naser’s body to the morgue of Golestan Hospital in Ahvaz and kept it there for 11 days, then handed over the body on the condition that the family remain silent and not speak and take it out of Ahvaz. They took the body to Ramshir (Khalifabad) and buried it there.”
Mohammad Kaabi, another Arab citizen, was 35 years old, and only one phone call from the Intelligence Office closed his case and his death in the judicial and security system: “They only called and told the family that we’ve buried his body ourselves, don’t pursue it, you have no right to hold any ceremony.”
Mohammad Kaabi, a law student and an Arab activist in Khuzestan Province, according to his family: “They arrested Mohammad at home along with his father and sister. They released his father and sister but took Mohammad and we heard nothing from him until about 20 days after his arrest, an anonymous call with no recognizable number came to the family. A person on the line said I’m calling from the Intelligence Office, Mohammad has died and we’ve buried him somewhere, don’t pursue it anymore. This person said you have no right to any ceremony and remain silent.”
Reza Moghaddesi, another Arab citizen, lost his life in the Ahvaz Intelligence Office detention center; little information has been released about him and his family has remained silent.
Deaths Officially Recognized
Among prison deaths, only a small number have been officially recognized by the government and the families’ complaints have been taken to court, though according to families, there was never fair judgment. The complaint files of many families whose children died in prisons have been closed at the initial stages or have been ignored.
Zahra Kazemi
On June 23, 2003, while taking photos of a gathering of families of political prisoners in front of Evin Prison, Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian-Canadian photographer, was arrested and died 18 days later on July 11, 2003 in Baghiyatallah Azam Hospital in Tehran.
Mohsen Armin, Vice Speaker of the sixth parliament and member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, pointed the finger of accusation at Said Mortazavi from the official parliament podium and said: “Zahra Kazemi tells law enforcement interrogators that she was beaten, especially on the head, during interrogation at the prosecutor’s office. On the fifth of June at 12 at night, she is transferred to the hospital, and at 6 a.m. on the sixth, her condition deteriorates due to brain bleeding and she falls into a coma and suffers brain death. The cause of bleeding is identified as brain trauma and skull fracture. Zahra Kazemi remains on artificial respiration until July 19 despite brain death, after which her death is announced. Judge Mortazavi, after her death, outside the scope of responsibility and without informing the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, summons the director general of foreign media of that ministry (Mohammad Hossein Khoshvaqt) and asks him to announce in an interview that her death was due to a stroke.”
A special committee of the presidential office declared the cause of Ms. Kazemi’s death to be “skull fracture, brain bleeding and its complications resulting from impact of a hard object on the head or collision of the head with a hard object.”
According to Shirin Ebadi, Zahra Kazemi’s family lawyer, however, “in the end they announced that the killer is not identified. While we know that filming takes place 24 hours a day in Evin Prison, in solitary cells that Zahra Kazemi was also in solitary. While it was reflected in the file that Mr. Mortazavi as prosecutor was engaged in interrogation in her cell until 3 a.m.”
Ali Yunesi, former Minister of Intelligence, 14 years later on February 25, 2018, in an interview announced that Zahra Kazemi, apparently during inspection, handing over items and transfer to detention, not during interrogation, “due to resistance to handing over her belongings, was beaten and her head hit a sidewalk curb and caused her brain bleeding, and if she had been taken to the hospital in time, she would definitely have been saved.”
Sattar Beheshti
Sattar Beheshti was arrested in 2012 due to publishing critical posts about the Islamic Republic on his blog by cyber police, and as a result of injuries from torture during detention, he lost his life.
The court found Sattar Beheshti’s death to be “quasi-murder” and sentenced his killer, a law enforcement officer, to three years in prison.
In the final court order, Akbar Taghizadeh, a cyber police officer and the main suspect in Sattar Beheshti’s murder case, was sentenced to three years in prison, 74 lashes, and two years of compulsory residence in Bandar Mahshahr.
Sattar Beheshti’s mother and his defense lawyer, who believe a premeditated murder occurred and in protest against the “quasi-murder” ruling in Sattar Beheshti’s case, did not participate in that court session.
After Sattar Beheshti’s death, 41 political prisoners from Evin Prison testified in a letter that he was in ward 350 on November 1 and 2, while he had been severely tortured and various signs of torture were visible on his entire body.
Kahrizak Deaths
Amir Javadi-Far, Mohammad Kamrani, and Mohsen Rouhol-Amin are three victims of Kahrizak detention center who lost their lives under torture and due to mistreatment by officers. The Islamic Republic accepted responsibility for their killing. Based on the Kahrizak case court order, two of the defendants in the case were sentenced to qisas (retribution) for killing these three, who were arrested following the protests against election results.
Additionally, nine other defendants were sentenced to imprisonment, payment of diyeh (blood money), fines, temporary dismissal from service, and corporal punishment, and one other defendant was acquitted of the charges due to lack of evidence.
However, the families of Kahrizak victims, forgoing qisas for two of the perpetrators, demanded accountability from the main instigators of this incident, namely Said Mortazavi, Hassan Zare Dehkohli (known as Judge Haddad), and Ali Akbar Haidari Far. Ultimately, Said Mortazavi was sentenced to permanent dismissal from judicial services, five years dismissal from government services, and a fine of 200,000 tomans.
The Islamic Republic refused to accept responsibility for the deaths of Ramin Aghazadeh Qahramani and Ahmad Nejati Kargar, who lost their lives after their release from Kahrizak detention center as a result of complications from mistreatment.
Unknown Fates
What is common in all cases of detainees and prisoners who have died in the Islamic Republic’s prisons is the refusal of judicial and security officials of the Islamic Republic to accept responsibility for their fates and the efforts of officials at various levels of the government to cover up and falsify the true narrative of what happened to these prisoners.
In some cases, there is not even a falsified narrative, and no government official is willing to provide any explanation regarding the fate of detainees, to the point that more than two decades after the fate of Pirouz Davani, Saeid Zeinali, and Farshte Alizadeh, there is still no news.
Pirouz Davani, a writer and translator and publisher of Pirouz magazine, has been missing for 22 years and his body has not been found. He left home on September 24, 1998, and his brother Hossein Davani says: “They made sure nothing remained of my brother, to the point that they didn’t even open a file for Pirouz’s abduction. In May 1998, four months before Pirouz Davani’s disappearance, Mr. Razini told my brother to stop writing or he would disappear in such a way that nothing would remain of him. That’s exactly what they did. Nothing remained of my brother.”
Saeid Zeinali, a computer science graduate from Tehran University, was arrested at his residence during the July 1999 university student protests and after 21 years, his family has no news of his fate. Akram Ghanbari, Saeid Zeinali’s mother, announced that “three armed officers came and said they would take Saeid for 10 minutes of questioning. Saeid was 22 years old at the time of his arrest. Two or three months after his arrest, he called from prison, said I’m fine and take care of my affairs, and after that, I have no news of my son.”
According to Saeid Zeinali’s mother, Farshte Alizadeh is another detainee from the July 1999 university student protests whose fate is unknown. Ms. Ghanbari says that until a few years ago she saw Farshte Alizadeh’s mother, who was pursuing the fate of her daughter, but after her death, there is no information whether other family members are pursuing the case.
Zahra Banieaqoob and Mehrdad Taleshi
But these are not the only political and ideological prisoners facing such fates. Zahra Banieaqoob and Mehrdad Taleshi are just two examples of non-political detainees who died in detention.
Zahra Banieaqoob, a medical student who voluntarily went to a remote village in Iran to complete a medical service plan, was arrested on October 20, 2007 in one of Hamadan’s parks on charges of what was called “committing an obvious crime” by Amr-al-Maruf (Promotion of Virtue) officers and was transferred to the Moral Offenses section. Two days later, detention officials claimed that she had committed suicide using a fabric placard in the hallway of the second floor of the detention center.
The family and lawyers of Ms. Banieaqoob rejected this claim, but their pursuits and complaints ultimately led nowhere. According to her father, “they kidnapped the file, they destroyed the evidence and the effects of the crime, including my daughter’s clothes.”
The family of Mehrdad Taleshi, a 21-year-old from Divandareh whose body was handed over to his family in February 2021 several days after arrest, rejected the law enforcement announcement of his death from cardiac arrest. One of Mr. Taleshi’s relatives told Radio Farda that his family received his corpse with signs of wound and sutures on his head.
These names are only the names of those prisoners whose deaths in prison have been covered by the media. The names of many victims have not reached the media due to security pressures on their families or families’ lack of access to media, families who have buried their imprisoned children’s bodies at night due to security pressures and have been deprived of the right to mourn.
Source: Radio Farda
