Iran: Political Prisoners Sent to Quarantine Section of the Notorious Gohardasht Prison

Political Prisoners
The country’s judiciary is also summoning individuals with family ties to the (PMOI / MEK Iran) and threatening them so as they do not participate in any anti-regime activities.

Political Prisoners

Three political prisoners, Majid Assadi, Mohammad Amir Khizi, and Payam Shakiba, have recently been transferred by the regime from ward 209 of Tehran’s notorious Evin prison to Gohardasht prison in Karaj. They are now in the quarantine section of the prison.

The Iranian opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) reported in late July that Majid Assadi is in Gohardasht prison because he signed a statement with several other political prisoners that revealed the truth about Iraj Mesdagj, an agent working with the mullahs’ regime and in particular the MOIS.

Assadi, with the two political prisoners, was taken from Gohardasht prison to the torture chambers of ward 209 in Evin prison in Tehran where he was interrogated. It seems from the regime’s records Assadi has now served his term and should be released. What has actually happened, according to The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), is that the MOIS wants a new trial to take place of Assadi.

This action against Assadi, according to the MEK and the NCRI Security and Counter-terrorism Committee, is due to the signing of the statement against Iraj Mesdaghi which has enraged the regime. The prisoners in question have been told to withdraw their signatures or else.

The regime’s pressure has been extended using their lobbyist arm, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) in Turkey, against former prisoners, by telling them that as refugees they will face problems if they do not withdraw their signatures immediately and write letters refuting their support. This is serious because in November 2019 some protesters were extradited from Turkey to Iran were sentenced to be executed.

During an interview with state-run TV in June 2020, so-called Supreme Court Judge Ahmad Sajjadi said: “Under the gasoline pretext they created unrest across the country, then this turned into insecurity. This was all pre-planned for the entire country and it was carried out from abroad and the (PMOI / MEK Iran).

Condemn new trials now

The MEK is demanding that an international delegation should be dispatched to Iran to visit ward 209 of Evin Prison and talk with the political prisoners in this chamber of torture. Any retrials should be condemned as the prisoners have already served their prison sentences. Assadi, in October 2019, was not even transferred to a hospital when he required much needed medical attention. He suffers from a number of ongoing medical conditions and at times when he has been sent to the hospital he has been deliberately intimidated by being forced to wear prison clothes.

In November 2017, when Assadi was sentenced to serve a 6-year prison sentence, his charges were vague and included terms such as “propaganda against the state.”

Assadi has continually stood up for himself while in prison, including refusing to wear prison clothes to a court appearance which led to it being canceled. Every time the prison authorities acted illegally, he filed a complaint.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi is the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran’s (NCRI): At least 1,500 were killed during the protests in November 2019. I urge the international community to condemn the clerical regime and to take urgent action to stop the executions.