As Iran prepares to mark the first anniversary of the 2022 nationwide uprising, the regime is engaging in wanton criminal activities against former political prisoners and relatives of the members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
On September 13, security forces in Tehran arrested former political prisoners Zahra Safaie and Parastoo Moeini and transferred them to the notorious Evin Prison. They are kept in Ward 209, where political prisoners are tormented.
Zahra Safaie, 61, had been arrested and imprisoned multiple times in the past on political charges. Her most recent arrest was in 2019. She was released from prison in February 2023, mere months before being arrested again. She spent eight years in prison in the 1980s for supporting the PMOI. She was also arrested in 2006 and served another prison term.
She suffers from various medical conditions, including severe diabetes, hypertension, and heart problems, and she needs regular medical treatment and care. The regime is notoriously renowned for torturing political prisoners by denying them medical care.
Zahra Safaie is the daughter of Hassanali Safaie, a well-known merchant in Tehran’s Bazaar and a political prisoner during the Shah’s era. He was arrested in 1981 by the brutal agents of Khomeini’s regime, accused of supporting the PMOI, and was executed that same year.
Her daughter Parastoo Moeini, 23, was arrested alongside her mother in 2019. In May 2020, after being released from solitary confinement, Ms. Moeini tried to continue her studies in Qarchak Prison. However, regime authorities denied her the opportunity to resume her education and she had to withdraw from the final exams. After her release from prison in February 2023, the regime denied her the opportunity to re-enroll in university.
In a statement, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) called on the United Nations and member states to take immediate action for the release of political prisoners and launch an international fact-finding mission to visit Iran’s prisons and meet with prisoners, particularly political prisoners.
This is the latest instance of the regime raising pressure on relatives of PMOI members. In late August, regime authorities arrested Marzieh Farsi and Forough Taghipour, both being former political prisoners and relatives of PMOI members in Ashraf 3. They were both transferred to Evin prison and denied the right to contact their families. Other PMOI relatives and supporters are also under increasing persecution by regime authorities.
The regime also caused obstruction in the release of political prisoner Maryam Akbari Monfared, who is approaching the end of her original 15-year sentence. Akbari Monfared has been in prison since 2009 on charges of supporting the PMOI. The regime has executed three of her siblings for being members of the PMOI.
In a separate event, the regime’s judiciary in Mashhad sentenced political prisoner Azam Gholami to 16 years in prison. Gholami, 35, was arrested in October 2022 and was charged with “Conspiracy against the state,” “propaganda against the regime,” and “communication with the PMOI.” She had previously been a political prisoner during the 2010s.
At the same time, the regime is raising pressure on political prisoners. On September 3, the regime transferred several political prisoners from the Evin Prison to Ghezel Hesar in Karaj. These prisoners were beaten, handcuffed, and forcibly transferred to Ghezel Hesar. Prison authorities did not allow the prisoners to take their belongings, and the prisoners’ belongings were smashed or looted in Ward 8 of Evin prison.
After the transfer to Ghezel Hesar, the prisoners were confined in two cells that are designated as quarantine cells for death row prisoners who are awaiting execution.
Another stark example is the mysterious death of political prisoner Javad Rouhi in Nowshahr prison on August 31.
Rouhi, a 35-year-old resident of Amol, was arrested in November 2022 during the nationwide uprising and subjected to brutal torture in custody of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). The regime gave him three execution sentences on baseless charges of “spreading corruption on earth” and “waging war against God.” However, due to domestic and international protests, the regime could not carry out this sentence. The regime claimed that Rouhi had died of health complications. This is an excuse that the regime has used time and again to justify the murder of political prisoners.
