Iranian Regime plans to increase number of prisons as dissent grows

NCRI – The Iranian regime will build 47 new prisons over the next three years to accommodate a growing prison population, according to the state-run Khabar Online on Saturday.

Gholam-Hossein Esmaeeli, the director of the regime’s prison system, was quoted as saying, “Some of the prisons are in the process of being built. … The Prisons Organization seeks to bring into operation 47 new detention centers over the course of the next three years.”

Esmaili also sought to downplay the fact that the regime continues to make increasing arrests amid rising dissent, creating a need for more prison space. He made the absurd claim that the overall population of political prisoners in Iran does not exceed half a percent of the entire prison population.