9 Male and 1 Female MP to Visit Evin Prison

According to reports from Iran, the names of 10 members of parliament who are set to visit Evin Prison have been announced. Nine male representatives and one female representative are scheduled to visit Evin and the location where detainees from the December protests are held 'before noon' on Sunday. The Jamaran news agency states that Abdulkarim Hosseinzadeh, Mohammad Kazemi, Hassan Nourouzi, Mohammad Javad Fathi, Mohammad Dehghan, Mohammad Ali Vakili, Allahyar Malekshahi, Fatemeh Saeidi, Valiollah Nanavakani, and Mohammad Boroumandi are the representatives who will visit Evin. The ILNA news agency and Iran newspaper also report similarly, noting that Fatemeh Saeidi is the only female representative among the visitors to Evin and the location where the December protest detainees are held. The vice president of the Judicial and Legal Commission of the parliament told ILNA that this visit is scheduled to take place 'before noon' on Sunday. Following reports of the deaths of some detainees from recent protests in custody, a group of parliament members requested a visit to Evin Prison. News of the deaths of detainees has raised alarms among several representatives about the potential for a 'second Kahrizak.' In recent weeks, reports have emerged regarding the deaths of Vahid Heydari and Shahab Abtahi Zadeh in Arak, Sina Ghanbari in Evin, Mohsen Adeli in Dezful, Saro Ghahramani and Kianoush Zandi in Sanandaj. However, judicial officials of the Islamic Republic claim that they 'committed suicide' or that their deaths were unrelated to the protests. Last Sunday, Ali Motahari stated that the Tehran prosecutor had agreed to the representatives' visit to Evin Prison. A note on the 'Human Rights Watch' website; a researcher from this organization states that this visit is only the first step of what parliament members can do. They should ask officials to allow independent Iranian and foreign inspectors to visit prisons across the country. Iran has not allowed UN experts to visit the country since 2005. The visit to Evin comes at a time when the committee investigating the arrests of December protesters reported last week that some detainees had been 'severely beaten' and that 'methadone' had been distributed among them. The prison organization has denied the accusation of administering methadone pills. Nevertheless, it appears that the current visit is limited to Evin Prison in Tehran and the detained protesters in this prison. According to the Kalemeh website and writings by Mehdi Mahmoudian, a member of the arrest follow-up committee, between January 9 and January 12, nearly 400 detainees from the Tehran protests were transferred to Evin Prison's quarantine. At the same time, there are concerns about other detainees and prisons in Iran. For example, the Human Rights Campaign in Iran reported on January 25 that 'a large number' of detainees and defendants from recent protests in Hamadan and Khuzestan have faced charges that could potentially lead to the death penalty. Mahmoud Sadeghi, a representative from Tehran in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, stated that at least 3,700 people were arrested during the December protests in various cities. Besides those who have lost their lives in Iranian prisons, according to statistics from the Islamic Republic's state television, statements from judicial officials, and remarks from some parliament members, at least 25 people have died during the December protests.