By Zohair Ahmad
On July 5th, 2017, there was a well-orchestrated
visit by European politicians from 45 different countries, to the notorious Evin prison in Iran.
This visit is the latest attempt from the Mullahs regime to repeal claims of
human rights abuse in Iranian prisons. The day before the visit, Javad
Larijani, the head of the Iranian regime’s so-called «Human Rights Organisation», claimed there are no
political prisoners in Iran.ث
Following the visit, Tasnim News Agency, which is
close to the hardliners in Iran claimed that several Ambassadors were
astonished by the quality of the prison. What a shame, it is a disgrace that
politicians are so caught up with profit that they choose to ignore the truth
about Iran regime’s human rights abuses, not only against prisoners but also
against ordinary citizens. None of the
Political Prisoners who are serving time after bogus trials participated in the meetings. According
to a political activist who spent 13 years in prison all visits are staged,
they prepare a room and a few specially selected prisoners. It is a known fact
that authorities have closed Evin prison to independent international and national human rights
investigators for more than a decade.
Meanwhile, political prisoners continue to linger under unbearable
conditions in prisons that no foreign diplomat is allowed to visit.
In an open letter to human rights activists, political
prisoner, Reza , Monfared, incarcerated in Gohardasht prison, in his
letter he spoke of the more than 60 condemnations on the regime for human
rights abuses, he also told about mothers whose 6 children were killed by the
mullahs regime. He
asks us this question; if the regime is honest in its claims why did they not
allow Mr. Ahmad Shaheed, the former UN
special rapporteur to visit the country, and also despite insistence of Ms.
Asma Jahangir, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in Iran, why does the regime not allow
her to meet and speak with the political prisoners and prisoners of conscience
in various prisons across Iran?
The last UN delegation who was allowed to visit
Evin was the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Rapporteur On the promotion
and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression in 2003,
including Ward 209, where political prisoners are kept under Ministry of
Intelligence supervision. As of today, there are at least ten standing requests by
different UN human rights experts to visit Iran, in addition to regular
requests from human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, to meet with
officials in Iran and discuss rights concerns with them.
According to the latest report from Amnesty International (2017), the
situation is not as good as portrayed in this staged visit. the report speaks
of how women are marginalized by laws that give the father right to marry a
girl off at the age of 9, that means also that she will be considered an adult at the
age of 9 and can be sentenced to death. Compulsory veiling (Hijab) laws violate
women’s rights to equality, privacy, and freedom of expression, belief, and
religion. This law empowers police and paramilitary forces to target women for harassment, violence
and imprisonment.
The Regime plan to execute 120 prisoners the authorities continue to use
the death penalty extensively, including against juvenile offenders and this
visit from European politicians will only empower the regime and we will see a rise
in executions across Iran.
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