NCRI – Reports from inside Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, in northern Tehran, indicate that the mullahs’ regime has stepped up pressures and harassment of political prisoners.
Political prisoners in Hall 12 of Ward 7 are among those facing added pressures.
Mehrdad Tahmasbi, a notorious regime collaborator being kept with other political prisoners, has been appointed as the warden’s liaison with prisoners and has attempted to stoke confrontations with other inmates.
He is supported in his actions by Abbassi, who is the representative of the regime’s Ministry of Intelligence in the prison.
Tahmasbi and several of his cohorts recently wrote slogans in the toilets against political prisoners and insulted them in order to trigger a conflict with the prisoners.
Authorities intend to make the prison atmosphere unbearable for the political prisoners to add to the psychological pressures they face.
A number of ordinary prisoners have been tasked by the authorities with spying on political prisoners while they are talking among themselves or by monitoring who they associate with, the content of the letters they write to their families, and even the timing of their telephone conversations. Political prisoners have objected strongly to such spying.
On July 31, both political and ordinary prisoners in Hall 12 of Ward 7 of Evin Prison held a rally to protest the management and administration of the prison. They warned against Tahmasbi’s behavior and demanded that prisoners’ rights be respected.
Tahmasbi has caused increased pressure on prisoners and in some cases transfer of prisoners to other wards or prisons in other cities by giving false reports about them. He has on many occasions blackmailed ordinary prisoners to cooperate with the regime against political prisoners.
