Iranian authorities intent on silencing political prisoners

Evin Prison in Tehran

Iranian authorities have threatened political prisoners who have issued letters or signed petitions, with “solitary confinement, cancellation of visiting privileges and new legal proceedings.”

Kaleme website reports that Evin Prison authorities along with a number of other prisons have summoned political prisoners to court demanding that they refute the letters and petitions they have signed or issued in recent months.

The report indicates that the prisoners are threatened with a series of penalties ranging from "solitary confinement, cancellation of visiting privileges and new legal proceedings" to "cancellation of temporary leaves" if they refuse to comply.

Kaleme reports that Bahman Ahmadi Amouyi, Mohammad Davari, Keyvan Samimi, Kouhyar Godarzi and Abdollah Momeni are amongst the prisoners who have been subjected to the most pressures.

These detainees were amongst a group of 14 prisoners that issued a letter last month demanding the establishment of a fact-finding committee to re-examine the controversies over the disputed presidential election of 2009 which many allege was rigged.

While the prisoners have repeatedly reported the use of torture and abuse by prison authorities, yesterday the new head of Tehran’s prisons referred to Iranian prisons as more like “a hotel” than any prison.