NCRI – A group of prisoners took control of Ward 1 of Gohardasht prison in the city of Karaj, west of Tehran, on Sunday during a riot against appalling prison conditions and the harsh treatments by the authorities.
The prisoners clashed with members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) disarming two of the guards, Mohsen Khalesi and Marjani, before taking control of the Ward. Other prison guards and torturers fled the premises.
Angry prisoners managed to get hold of the keys to solitary cells and releasing all the inmates. The riot continued until 21:00 local time.
Subsequently, the prison’s special guards headed by Ali Haj Kazem, the head of Gohardasht prison surrounded the Ward, attacked defenseless prisoners using teargas and finally took back the control of the Ward. There is no news on the conditions of prisoners after their long battle with prison guards.
The Ward 1 that houses solitary confinements is known as “dog house” because of harsh conditions and barbaric tortures deployed there. The prisoners are subjected to humiliation, insults and various physical tortures such as hunger and rape and are facing gradual death in the appalling living conditions. Every year a dozen of them commit suicide.
The Iranian Resistance calls on all human rights organizations, particularly the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, to condemn torture of prisoners and to assign a Special Rapporteur to investigate the deteriorating state of human rights in Iran.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
October 26, 2009
