Evin Prison Video Scandal: Apologies to Everyone Except the Victims

Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf called on the Parliament's Article 90 Commission to investigate the "incident of the published images from Evin" in cooperation with the prosecutor's office. The head of the Prisons Organization has also apologized to the Leader, the nation, and the prison guards.

The aftershocks of the hacking of Evin Prison's CCTV cameras and the release of videos showing the dire prison conditions and mistreatment of prisoners continue.

Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, said in a public session on Wednesday, September 23, in response to a verbal reminder from one of the representatives: "The Article 90 Commission, with the assistance of the Attorney General's Office, will follow up on the Evin issue and the necessary information will be provided in this regard."

A cyber group calling itself "Adalat Ali" recently announced the hacking of Evin Prison's CCTV cameras and released videos that have received widespread coverage in the media and cyberspace, drawing widespread criticism from prison officials.

Leaked images showing the poor conditions in which prisoners are held and their beatings by security officers and prison guards have also drawn criticism from international human rights organizations.

Mahmoud Sadeghi, a representative of the previous parliament, proposed in a letter to the head of the judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, "the formation of a permanent board to monitor prisons consisting of three branches," and said that he had also submitted a plan for the formation of such a board to the 10th parliament, which was not reviewed due to lack of time.

The uncertain future of a proposal

Sadeghi expressed his second proposal as follows: “Separating the prisons organization from the judiciary and attaching it to the executive branch, given that the administration of prisons is not a judicial matter but is of an executive nature, and also provides the possibility of parliamentary oversight over it. In this case, a plan was also developed in the 10th Majlis and referred to the Legal and Judicial Commission.”

It seems that this representative of the 10th Parliament, whose eligibility for the 11th election has not been confirmed, has paid little attention to the political structure of the Islamic Republic in presenting his proposal.

The judiciary is a sovereign institution whose head is appointed by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ali Khamenei. Separating an organization from this branch and incorporating it into the executive branch is only possible with the approval of Khamenei himself, and even if approved by the parliament, it is unlikely to be approved by the Guardian Council.

Apology to the leader and the prison guards

Mohammad Mehdi Hajmohammadi, head of the Doum Shahrivar Prisons Organization, accepted "responsibility for these unacceptable behaviors" in a Twitter message, referring to images released from Evin Prison cameras, and pledged to "work to prevent the recurrence of such bitter events and deal seriously with the perpetrators."

The head of the Prisons Organization continued, writing: "I apologize to God Almighty, our beloved leader, the great nation, and the honorable prison guards, whose efforts will not be ignored under the influence of these mistakes."

In other words, this judiciary official did not consider the released videos of violent and heinous treatment of prisoners as a reason to apologize to the victims.

However, in a letter to the head of the judiciary, Mahmoud Sadeghi expressed his hope that the revelation of the videos of the mistreatment of prisoners in Evin "will lead to your attention to addressing the issue, punishing the offending officers and officials, and restoring the prisoners' rights, as well as finding a radical and structural solution to it."

Source: DW