Iran intensifies persecution of female prisoners after violent crackdown

Women in Tehran's Evin Prison are being subjected to forced confessions along with being denied medical care after a violent crackdown following a prisoner protest last week.

Iran’s security and intelligence agents are pressuring political prisoners at Evin to make false confessions against each other after a violent assault by guards on Tuesday against several female prisoners at the notorious jail, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi.

They had protested the execution of Iranian dissident Reza Rasaei. In a statement, Mohammadi’s family said that following the execution of Reza Rasaei, several prisoners gathered in the prison yard to protest against the death penalty given to Rasaei, among over 300 to have taken place since the start of the year.

“Narges and several other prisoners protested against the locked doors that were preventing critically ill inmates from being taken to the prison clinic," the statement said. "They attempted to get those in need of urgent medical attention out of the ward and to the infirmary."

The women's ward was subsequently "flooded with military forces," and an order was given to "assault the protesters", the statement said. The violent crackdown resulted in severe beatings, with some prisoners sustaining physical injuries and others experiencing nervous breakdowns.

During the assault, Mohammadi, who suffers with a heart condition, was "repeatedly punched in the chest by male military and security guards," causing her to collapse in the prison yard with intense chest pain.

Despite her condition, no efforts were made to transfer her to the infirmary or a hospital. Instead, a prison doctor entered the ward, and Mohammadi, who displayed "bruising and soreness" on her chest, arms, and right hand, announced her intention to file a lawsuit over the assault.

Although she was administered painkillers and blood pressure medication, the family expressed deep concern that the guards "might have intentionally targeted her chest" given her condition.

In a statement expressing "alarm and urgent concern" for the well being of Mohammadi and other prisoners attacked by the guards, New York-based PEN America highlighting past instances where Evin prison authorities had neglected and delayed medical care for political prisoners with fatal outcomes.

Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi also sounded the alarm over the safety of political prisoners assaulted on Tuesday.

"The lives of Narges Mohammadi, Sarvenaz Ahmadi, and all political prisoners in various prisons are in danger. They are paying the price for the insatiable totalitarianism of the Islamic Republic,” Ebadi said in a post on Instagram.

Moreover, elite students Ali Younesi and Amir Hossein Moradi, imprisoned in Evin Prison, started a hunger strike on Saturday to protest the attack on the women’s ward.

Amid growing media scrutiny and widespread condemnation following the incident, Iran's Prisons Organization issued a rare statement on Friday through Mizan, a judiciary-linked outlet, addressing the incident.

The statement claimed that a group of inmates in the women’s ward, "with the instigation of Narges Mohammadi," rushed towards a guard, broke a lock, and attempted to enter the outer courtyard.

The Prisons Organization acknowledged that security personnel intervened but insisted that guards acted to maintain order, downplaying the severity of the injuries and asserting that no prisoners were harmed. The statement also claimed that "the guards and the prison protection unit did not enter the prison or fight with the inmates."

The Prisons Organization further said that two prisoners experienced heart palpitations and stress due to the commotion but were found to have no significant health issues after being examined and were returned to the ward. The organization maintained that "the general condition of both prisoners is good."

Despite the official denial, accounts from within the prison indicate that prisoners are being denied medical care for their injuries and are being forced to give false confessions against one another.

This is not the first time guards have attacked prisoners at Evin. In 2021, a leaked CCTV video showed guards assaulting a prisoner who collapsed and was dragged away by the arms.

The ongoing abuses at Evin Prison reflect the challenges faced by the Iranian government as it continues to battle the biggest threat to its legitimacy since the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979.