A Human Rights Organization: Saman Yasin is Shackled to a Bed

The Iran Human Rights Organization announced that Saman Yasin (Saman Saidi), a rapper from Kermanshah who was transferred to Aminabad Psychiatric Hospital on Tuesday, March 6, is shackled to a bed. In a statement on Wednesday, March 7, the organization cited reports indicating that the transfer of this political prisoner was ordered by Abolqasem Salavati, the head of Branch 15 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran, and carried out in cooperation with Heshmatollah Hayatolghayb, the head of the Prison Organization. According to a source familiar with Saman Yasin's situation, the doctors at this hospital have not only done nothing for him but have also shackled him to the bed since his transfer, and he is currently in a very painful condition. This source told the Iran Human Rights Organization that the officials at Qezel Hesar Prison had promised Saman that he would only be under observation at Aminabad and that he would not be shackled. He has repeatedly asked the hospital officials to remove the shackles. The Iran Human Rights Organization noted that this is the second time that judicial authorities of the Islamic Republic have transferred this political prisoner to Aminabad Psychiatric Hospital to exert additional pressure on him. Saman Yasin was first transferred to this hospital on July 22 of this year after a voice recording of him regarding his situation in prison was released. He was arrested on October 2, 2022, during nationwide protests following the death of Mahsa Amini while in custody of the morality police, which has become known as the 'Women, Life, Freedom' movement. Since then, he has been deprived of many of his rights, such as being granted medical leave, receiving medical care in prison, and having a lawyer. Saman Yasin has been charged with 'moharebeh' (waging war against God) and 'conspiracy to commit a crime against national security' by the judicial authorities of the Islamic Republic, and despite 18 months of detention and uncertainty in prison, the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran has refrained from issuing a final verdict for this political prisoner. Judicial officials also transferred him along with several other political prisoners from Evin Prison to Qezel Hesar Prison in a punitive manner on September 3, 2023, to exert pressure on this imprisoned artist. Recently, in a letter addressed to Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the head of the judiciary, he referred to 18 months of uncertainty and transfers between prisons in Tehran and Karaj, stating: 'You have executed me artificially, taken me to a mental hospital, what more can you bring upon me? Take my life too, and be done with it.' The United States condemned the torture of Saman Yasin, calling it a violation of human rights and contrary to respect for human dignity. Recently, Javaid Rehman, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, described the human rights situation in Iran as a 'bitter reality' and urged the international community not to remain silent in the face of widespread human rights violations in Iran.