Sepideh Qolian Says She Was Also Threatened with Sexual Assault by the Female Ward Manager

Sepideh Qolian, following the publication of an account of the unfavorable conditions for women in Bushehr Prison, has shared further details about the difficult conditions in Iranian prisons through a video on her Instagram page.

This imprisoned civil activist posted the video on Instagram on Sunday, September 21st, writing: “Living in hell and resisting in the heart of savagery. Here is Sepidar Prison, Bushehr Central Prison, Qarchak Prison in Varamin, here is the Islamic Republic’s prison. We are here and subjected to assault, cameras and forced confessions, deception and theatrical lies and organized brutality repeatedly inflicted upon us and the people.”

In this video, Ms. Qolian again emphasized the assault on female prisoners in Bushehr Central Prison and mentioned sending a letter to the prosecutor. She stated that after protesting a film that was made of her and other prisoners in Bushehr Prison, she was threatened with sexual assault by the female ward manager and was beaten by guards.

This civil activist, alluding to the fact that she has repeatedly been threatened with “death and rape,” added that the ward manager threatened her with death, saying: “I have enough power to kill you.”

Sepideh Qolian said in this video that the prosecutor’s representative also told her before her transfer to Bushehr Prison: “Your corpse will arrive in Khuzestan.”

She further stated that on the orders of the ward manager, she was also severely beaten by a group of prisoners.

In this video, Sepideh Qolian also refers to the death of one female prisoner who, despite having poor health conditions, did not receive proper medical attention from prison officials.

This civil activist, who was furloughed from Bushehr Prison on August 19th, described Bushehr Central Prison as “a forgotten hell” in a series of tweets posted in recent days. She wrote that female prisoners in this prison are subjected to “the most savage forms of torture” as punishment for “being women and being prisoners” and are held in “the most inhumane conditions possible.”