Anti-riot guards had been stationed outside Evin prison since early morning on Thursday February 21 and the MOIS and plainclothes agents had controlled all routes leading to Evin prison in order to prevent the announced gathering.
Gonabadi Dervishes gathered on on Thursday February 21 to protest the detention of their lawyers and other fellow Dervishes who have been imprisoned in solitary cells in Ward 209 of the Evin prison for more than five weeks.
Followers of Ahl-al-Haq have always been under suppression and pressure during the rule of Velayat-e-Faqih.
Suppressive measures on dervishes have included: ban on holding meetings; attacks on dervishes centers in several cities, including Tehran, Boroujerd, Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan, Qom, Sharekord and Kish island; attacking worshipers, beating and arresting them; torturing and insulting dervishes on charges of “disturbing national security”; depriving them of visits and medical services while in prison.
Due to these tortures and pressures, Omid Behrouzi, a Dervish’s lawyer, who was severely beaten by the regime’s intelligence agents during his arrest, has lost hearing of his left ear because of denial of medical treatment.
Saleheddin Moradi, a Gonabadi Dervish in Shiraz Adel-abad prison, suffers kidney pain and internal bleeding, and due to lack of minimum medical attention, is in serious condition.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
February 22, 2013