In a brazen act of desperation, the Iranian regime’s security forces launched a violent raid on Ghezel Hesar prison on July 16, attempting to abduct one of Iran’s longest-serving political prisoners, Saeed Masouri. According to a harrowing report from the Iran Human Rights Society (HRS), the regime’s henchmen stormed the political prisoners’ ward without a judicial warrant, intending to move Masouri to an unknown location. The plot was only thwarted by the courageous and collective resistance of his fellow inmates, who forced the guards to retreat.
The HRS report warns that a heavy security atmosphere now suffocates the ward, with special guards deployed in the prison courtyard, signaling the imminent danger of another attack. This event is a clear indicator of a new, brutal wave of repression sweeping across Iran’s dungeons, orchestrated by a clerical regime terrified of its own people’s dissent.
A symbol of 25 years of unwavering defiance
Saeed Masouri is a prime target for the regime precisely because he is an emblem of unbroken resistance. Arrested in December 2000, he has now been imprisoned for 25 years without a single day of furlough for the charge of “cooperation with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).”
After his arrest, Masouri endured 14 months of brutal interrogation in solitary confinement in Ahvaz and Evin Prison’s notorious Ward 209 and was initially sentenced to death. While the sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment, his persecution has never ceased. Over the past quarter-century, he has been subjected to physical and psychological torture and denied fundamental rights, including medical care, family phone calls, and education. Despite this, he has consistently led protests and hunger strikes against the regime’s inhumanity, refusing to be broken.
A prelude to state-sanctioned murder
The recent raid is the violent culmination of a systematic campaign to eliminate Masouri. According to the HRS report, this is not a random act but a calculated plot. In the past month alone, Ministry of Intelligence agents have summoned Masouri twice to the ward chief’s office, where they directly threatened his life. Simultaneously, his family has been subjected to relentless pressure and threatening phone calls. This escalation confirms fears that the regime is planning an “enforced disappearance”—a known tactic used to covertly murder political opponents and dispose of their bodies in secret.
A smokescreen for imminent mass executions
The chaos surrounding Saeed Masouri serves a dual purpose: it is also a deliberate smokescreen for a broader, vicious crackdown. The regime is cynically using fabricated “wartime conditions” as a pretext to accelerate executions and silence all dissent. The danger is acute in Ghezel Hesar’s political ward, where three other political prisoners on death row face imminent execution:
- Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hasani, whose fourth request for a retrial has been rejected.
- Abolhassan Montazer, who has been held for months in complete uncertainty about his fate.
Human rights activists warn that the attempt to abduct Masouri is directly linked to a sinister plan to secretly carry out the executions of these men under the cover of the ensuing turmoil.
An urgent call to the world
The international community must act now before it is too late. Silence in the face of such blatant brutality is complicity. Human rights organizations have rightfully declared that any harm that befalls Saeed Masouri will be considered an extrajudicial killing, and the responsibility lies squarely with the judicial and security authorities of the ruling dictatorship, under the direct command of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Global bodies, including Amnesty International and UN Special Rapporteurs, have repeatedly demanded Masouri’s release, condemning his detention as a flagrant violation of international law. These words must now be translated into concrete political action. The world must hold the Iranian regime accountable and send a clear message: the life of Saeed Masouri and all political prisoners in Iran is a red line.