"Most detainees are unemployed or low-income."
The head of the prisons organization says that three provinces have not had access to prisons during the recent nationwide protests. The Tehran police commander announced that 27% of those arrested in the capital were supporters of the Mojahedin and the monarchy.
Hossein Rahimi, commander of the Tehran Police Force, has announced that “between 25 and 27 percent of those arrested in the recent riots in the capital were in the spectrum of hypocritical leadership, especially royalists.”
Previously, the spokesman and public relations officer for the Revolutionary Guard Corps had said: "The enemy is trying to present the Pahlavi government as progressive by taking advantage of new media and the generational gap that has arisen in the country."
On the sidelines of the pro-government rally, Sardar Rahimi claimed: "There were many guided individuals present in these riots who were trained and operating in groups of four to five people."
He added that the protesters were unable to demonstrate their movements like in other cities due to the police's control over the situation.
At the same time, Asghar Jahangir, head of the Iranian Prisons Organization, reported at a meeting of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary that three provinces in the country had no entry into prisons during the recent protests. He did not name these provinces.
Mehr News Agency quoted Mr. Jahangir as saying that a significant number of those arrested have been released: "With the follow-up of the Tehran prosecutor and the investigators, who were working until 2:00 last night, the number of these people will increase." However, the police commanders of Fars, Lorestan, and Hamedan have announced the arrest of a total of 34 more protesters in Shiraz, Hamedan, and Khorramabad.
No official source has yet announced the total number of people arrested during the recent protests, but human rights organizations and scattered reports indicate that at least 4,800 people have been arrested. The NAJA commander announced the “arrest of 180 leaders” of the protest events a few days before.
Ebrahim Raisi, the head of Iran's judiciary, has said that the fate of the recent detainees should be determined as soon as possible and that decisions should be made for those who are "less guilty."
The Leader of the Islamic Republic calls the protesters “villains,” and IRGC and judicial officials call them “rioters.” This is while the spokesperson for the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Majlis, quoting a representative of the Ministry of Intelligence, said: “Most of those arrested are unemployed or have low-paying jobs.”
Many of the detainees are being held in Fashafoyeh Prison, 32 kilometers south of Tehran; a prison that was originally a detention camp for drug convicts but has in recent years been used to house political prisoners and Dervishes, and its conditions have been described as inhumane. The head of the Rey city council has warned that Fashafoyeh does not have the capacity or capacity to handle this volume of detainees.
Source: DW
