According to reports from inside the notorious Gohardasht (Rajai Shahr) Prison in Karaj, north-west of Tehran, on May 25, political prisoner Masoud Arab-Choobdar has been transferred to the dangerous prisoners’ ward.
Mr. Arab Choobdar was summoned to stand in the prison’s inner courtyard for reasons that were not specified. After refusing to do so, he was told that the head of the prison, Mohammad Mardani, wanted to discuss his release.
This turned out to be a lie, and when Mr. Arab-Choobdar came forward he was seized by prison authorities and taken to a prison ward where the dangerous prisoners are kept.
It is standard practice for prisoners in Iranian facilities to be separated according to prisoner type, with violent offenders isolated from perpetrators of financial or other non-violent crimes, and political prisoners confined to their own wards in several prisons. However, there are frequent reports of regime authorities violating this standard by housing violent criminals and political prisoners together, as a means of exerting additional pressure on specific prisoners of conscience.
Since Mr. Arab-Choobdar was taken from the prison courtyard, there has been no additional information about his location or condition.
In April, Mr. Arab-Choobdar wrote from behind bars to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran giving an account of the appalling abuses being faced by dissidents in Iran’s jails.
In his letter to special rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed, Mr. Arab-Choobdar highlighted in particular the mistreatment of political prisoners in Gohardasht Prison.
The text of his letter, which was smuggled out of Gohardasht Prison, can be found HERE.
The text of his letter, which was smuggled out of Gohardasht Prison, can be found HERE.
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