Political Prisoner Tries To Commit Suicide By Self-Immolation In Iran Jail

A political prisoner in Tehran’s Evin prison has reportedly tried to commit suicide by self-immolation after his please for conditional release were ignored.

Mehdi Darini, a 35-year-old independent activist was arrested in 2019 and sentenced to10 years for "unlawful assembly to disrupt national security” and “propaganda against the regime”, vague political charges commonly used to convict activists and protesters.

Kayvan Samimi, another political prisoner, reported about the suicide attempt on his social media account. He said that Darini set himself on fire and was rescued by other detainees and guards who took him to the prison infirmary. He said his condition is satisfactory.

Darini is a production engineer and his family owns a company that produces kitchen appliances.

According to Samimi, he repeatedly asked for conditional release, but his interrogator and judicial authorities ignored him.

At least more than a dozen political prisoners have died under suspicious circumstances in Iranian jails in the past 12 years. Some had obvious signs of torture, while in many cases it was not independently possible to determine the exact cause of death.