Why Are Suppression and Arrests Ramping up in Iran?

Iranian political prisoner, Majid Assadi

INU Staff writer, July 9, 2017 - According to reports obtained from inside Iran, the past months have seen a spike in arrests and executions. In fear of mass anti-state protests similar to those that took place in 2009, the regime has resorted to raid the homes of political and human rights activists in Iran, especially the supporters of the main resistance group People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
This happens against the backdrop of a widespread campaign in Iran condemning the regime’s three-decade-long crimes in the country’s prisons, especially the massacre of 30 thousand political prisoners in the summer of 1988.
One of the more recent cases is that of Majid Assadi, 34, who lives in Karaj, 40 km west of Tehran. Holding a degree in economics from the Alameh Tabatabai University, Assadi is a student activist, former political prisoner, and a supporter of the MEK.
On February 18, 2017 agents of the Ministry or Intelligence and Security (MOIS) arrested Assadi after they violently broke into his father’s home in Karaj.
The ten armed MOIS agents arrested Assadi and ransacked his house without any warrant.
At the time of the arrest, the agents also harmed Assadi’s ailing father, who had just undergone a liver implant surgery as part of his cancer treatment.
The agents handcuffed Assadi in front of his family and interrogated his family in his presence to torment him. They then confiscated all of his personal belongings, including his personal computer, phone and books.
Assadi was subsequently transferred to the Karaj intelligence office, and from there to Evin prison’s ward 209, where political prisoners are held. He spent 50 days in solitary confinement, under severe mental pressure and interrogations.
Since the time of his arrest, Assadi has been held in a state of limbo. After lingering in wards 209 and 240, he was transferred to Gohardasht prison in recent weeks.
According to the latest reports, Assadi is now in Gohardasht and his case remains unsettled.
In 2008, Assadi was arrested for attending a ceremony to commemorate the anniversary of the 1999 student protests in Tehran. Assadi was held in solitary confinement for 52 days.
In 2010 he was given a four-year prison sentence. His appeal request was rejected, and he was imprisoned from 2011 to 2015.
At present, Majid Assadi’s family have called on human rights organizations and other relevant international bodies to help save his life and deliver him from the dungeons of the Iranian regime, where human rights activists are executed and tortured to keep the mullahs in power.