A Political Prisoner in Shiraz Self-Immolated in Protest Against 'Unjust Sentencing'

The lawyer of Saeed Gharibi, a political prisoner in Adelabad prison in Shiraz, announced that his client self-immolated in protest against 'unjust sentences against him.' According to Astareh Ansari, prison officials prevented the transfer of this prisoner to the hospital despite his 'severe burns,' after he was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 15 years of exile on charges of 'membership in opposition groups.' Farshid Tabaniyan, a lawyer, quoted her colleague Astareh Ansari on social media platform X, stating that Saeed Gharibi self-immolated on Saturday in protest against the conditions in Adelabad prison and the unjust sentences against him. Self-immolation as a form of protest by political prisoners in Iran has a precedent, including cases of Mehdi Maskinnavaz and Khaled Pirzadeh, two constitutionalist political prisoners who self-immolated in recent months in protest against human rights violations in prison. Human rights sources have repeatedly reported on suicide attempts by prisoners protesting the dire conditions in the Islamic Republic's prisons and the repeated violations of human rights. In Esfand 1402, over 800 prisoners in Urmia Central Prison signed an open letter warning about the rising suicide rates among prisoners due to what they described as 'harassment' in this facility, demanding the removal of the prison's director. The U.S. Treasury Department had announced in Mehr 1399 that Urmia prison, along with Adelabad prison in Shiraz, Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in Shiraz, and Vakilabad prison in Mashhad, were sanctioned by Washington. Mistreatment of prisoners in the Islamic Republic's prisons has consistently drawn severe criticism from activists and human rights organizations in Iran and worldwide.