Iran: Paranoid regime officials make contradictory remarks about Evin Prison raid

                           
                                               1                                   2
1-the Justice Minister Mostafa Pour Mohammadi 
 2- Mahmoud Alavi, the criminal Minister of Intelligence and Security     

The outrage of the general public over April 17 raid against political prisoners in Evin Prison, and widespread international condemnations of human rights violations in Iran has made the fearful officials of the regime to resort to contradictory remarks and lies to justify and play down the brutal attack.

On April 19th, Mahmoud Alavi, the criminal Minister of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) said that he would issue a statement on the Evin Prison raid while the Justice Minister Mostafa Pour Mohammadi said on Sunday only one or two inmates were slightly hurt.

“Initial investigations have been carried out in this regard and this report shows the published news was not correct and it was only an ordinary inspection of the wards...” he said.

“Inspections have shown a number of banned items have been found in the ward. In two rooms there was resistance, but of course there were no serious clashes, and nothing but one or two inmates being slightly hurt and they recovered with first-aid being provided.” (Mehr news agency, affiliated to MOIS, 20 April 2014)

Pour Mohammadi denied political prisoners of family visits. He tried to justify the suppressive measure by saying: "The families had requested an urgent visit but nothing has taken place for them to request for urgent visits.

Following a protest by families of political prisoners outside the regime’s Majlis (parliament), lawmaker Ali Mottahari said on Sunday made remarks which were aimed at relieving the MOIS from accountability.

“I believe these clashes took place in two scenarios; either it was a miscalculation, or there may be people who are seeking to cause problems for the new government. Other than that, I doubt anyone supporting the country and government would carry out such measures,” he said.

“They thought the MOIS was not aware of this issue. Unfortunately, some people don’t listen to the state’s advice and cause domestic and foreign problems for the country.”

In the meantime, Aladdin Borujerdi, the Chairman for the Majlis Committee for Foreign Policy and National Security and a close Khamenei confidant, summoned Gholam-Hossein Ismaeeli, head of the regime’s Prisons Organization, to brief the Majlis members.

Ismaeeli admitted that the vicious attack took place in fear of the regime being condemned internationally, including the European Parliament resolution on the human rights situation in Iran, and to stop the inmates’ revelations on the regime’s crimes in the prisons.
“I believe after the European Union statement, those inside the country who have sold themselves to the enemy are aiming to make international public opinion to believe their lies and join their voice in this regard. However, the measures taken by our colleagues were all carefully calculated,” he said.

“This time the measures taken by the Prisons Organization… was much more successful than previous measures; because more links between the inmates were cut, although it has yet to be brought to zero. This was very hard for them that we actually carried out such actions.” (Tasnim news agency, affiliated to the terrorist Quds Force, 20 April 2014)

“The Prisons Organization team inspected Evin Prison on Thursday according to schedule…the inmates of two rooms were not willing to come out and most of them were members of the discords and sedition…and they began resisting and using foul language against the inspection team… the inspection team that consisted of individuals other than the current prison employees, forced these individuals out of the rooms,” he added. (IRNA news agency, 20 April 2014)

Isameeli denied that a number of prisoners had been wounded and said, “During the inspection no cases of injuries or clashes has been seen and no individual has been transferred to a hospital… the enemies of the state, many being inside the prisons, sought to spread rumors of this issue and politically exploit the matter… and by bloating the issue, and spreading rumors and lies they sought to create a new turmoil against the state.” (Majlis website, 20 April 2014) In the meantime, he threatened the prisoners by saying, “On rumors spread by various prisoners, the Prisons Organization has lodged a legal complaints and has referred them to judicial officials”.

Naghavi Hosseini, speaker of regime’s parliament National Security Commission, said: “In my opinion, these prisoners staged this resistance because the elements of Zionism, Monafeqin (a term the regime uses in referring to the PMOI (MEK). and the seditionist are raising uproar against Iran in the world. So they wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to create a tumult and tension for the Islamic Republic of Iran. And the families claim that some people have been killed, a few have lost their arms, and a few have had their heads cut off.”

Mehdi Kouchakzadeh, another member of mullahs’ parliament said that these allegations are ridiculous and that someone has been beaten in prison is a lie… If someone insults me, I will show a rash reaction. It is the same in prison. If someone says something to a prison guard, there may be a scuffle!”