Hassan Zarezadeh Ardeshir - 2007.05.02

Prison authorities at Gohar Dasht prison in the town of Karaj (Rajayi Shahr) assaulted Behrouz Javid Tehrani and transferred him to a solitary confinement cell.

Tehrani is a former prisoner in connection with the student protests at Tehran university who has been arrested and imprisoned several times since his release, and, because of his political activities, is begrudged by security and judiciary officials. This is the reason why he has been exiled to Gohar Dasht prison in Karaj to serve his prison term amid dangerous regular (non-political) convicts.

In the words of Arsam Azad, a member of the Student Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners (Komite Daneshjooyi Defa az Zendanian Siasi), “The transfer of Javid Tehrani to a solitary confinement cell began a few days ago when prison authorities gathered all the convicts who had records of murder and in a speech in which he called the political prisoners to be hypocrites (which in the official interpretation deserve the death penalty) said that the latter had to be dealt with mercilessly. These words led to a protesting commotion among prisoners.”

In a related issue, assaults on Tehrani were first carried out by dangerous convicts who work for the prison so that the ground work for his transfer to the solitary confinement and subsequent events could be laid. “Behrouz Javid Tehrani’s life is in danger because he has been under the worst prison conditions and prison authorities increase the pressure on him,” according to Arsam Azad.

It is known that Tehrani is not the only person to be subjected to assaults and battery by prison authorities. According to a spokesman for Karzar, “following the ill-intended remarks of a prison official against political prisoners, Merhdad Lohresbi who is a prisoner in connection with the Tehran University protests was the first to be summoned by Ali Mohammadi, the first deputy of Rajayi Shahr prison who told the prisoner that if he did not forego his requests, he would face the same fate as Akbar Mohammadi. This despite the fact that the only request that Lohresbi has been making is to get prison leave to receive medical treatment for the numerous illnesses that he has developed.”

Soon after the news that Tehrani had been transferred to a solitary confinement cell, 4 political prisoners in Evin issued a statement in his support and condemned the measure of the judiciary. “We the undersigned political prisoners strongly condemn the inhuman action of the regime, which is contrary to all international conventions and agreements, and stress that Javid Tehrani must be unconditionally and immediately take out of the solitary confinement cell,” the statement read.