Prior to their transfer, the prisoners were held in a ward known as Afghan's Ward.

On November 21, the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly passed a resolution expressing deep concern over human rights violations by the ruling clerics in Iran.
 
The UN document reads in part: "Torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment such as flogging and amputations, public executions, stoning as a method of execution, execution of persons who were below 18 years of age at the time their offence was committed, arrests of and violent crackdowns on women exercising their right to assembly, increasing discrimination and other human rights violations against persons belonging to religious, ethnic, linguistic or other minorities, ongoing and serious restrictions of freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, and the increasing harassment, intimidation and persecution of human rights defenders," are a common practice in Iran.