Engineered Visit of 45 Foreign Ambassadors to Evin Prison

"A pleasant area" in northern Tehran, a vast space where both "live music" is performed by a "Ugandan singer" and guests applaud, as well as the "bell of the gym" ringing and the "food is excellent". Residents of this area greet foreign guests "in English" and can spend hours in "rooms equipped with beds, refrigerators, bathrooms, and toilets alongside their spouses". This is the image that Iranian media has presented of the visit of 45 foreign ambassadors to Evin Prison in Tehran. This image is completed with interviews with the ambassadors. The Indonesian ambassador told the Islamic Republic's state broadcaster: "I was joking during the visit, saying the conditions here are so good that some prisoners might prefer to stay in prison." The Portuguese ambassador said: "I did not expect the conditions here to be this good, and this visit impressed me." The South Korean ambassador, in response to a question about the health and nutrition conditions of the prisoners, replied with a laugh: "Of course, I did not test the prison food during this visit, but I saw that there are good sanitary conditions in the prison." According to the Mizan news agency, affiliated with the judiciary of the Islamic Republic, ambassadors from 45 foreign countries in Iran visited parts of Ward 4, a sewing workshop, the medical facility, and the gym of Evin Prison on Wednesday, July 14. Published images from this news agency show that a red carpet was laid out for the foreign ambassadors. This news agency described the prisoners' accommodation as "six-person rooms with red bedspreads and uniform carpets" and considered it a "comfort and ease" for the prisoners. This description comes while Bahman Ahmadi Amoui, a journalist sentenced to seven years in prison who spent some of his sentence in Evin Prison, previously wrote about Ward 350 of Evin Prison: "In this room, we are 18, and it is difficult to drink even a cup of tea without disturbing others. Moreover, the prison's diesel seems to have run out. We have no hot water, and I haven't showered for several days." Taghi Rahmani, a political analyst residing in France who spent 13 years in Evin Prison and whose wife, Narges Mohammadi, is currently imprisoned there, told Radio Farda about this visit: "These types of visits are engineered visits. In these cases, the ward is prepared in advance, prisoners who should be removed are taken out, and a series of simple dialogues are taught to some prisoners, and then this visit takes place. The face of Iranian prisons is not as the judicial officials, even the Speaker of the Parliament and members of Parliament, say, as the South Korean ambassador or other visitors claim." Evin Prison has been referred to as "the most complete prison in the capital". The construction of this prison began in 1961 and took ten years. According to documents, the land of the prison belonged to Seyyed Zia'eddin Tabatabai, a journalist and Prime Minister of Ahmad Shah Qajar. After the February 1979 revolution, Evin Prison is managed by three bodies: the Prisons Organization, affiliated with the judiciary, the Ministry of Intelligence, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. In recent years, there has been a discussion about transferring Evin Prison to the municipality to convert it into green space, which was later canceled. Although prisoners, legal experts, and human rights organizations have repeatedly protested the conditions of prisoners in this prison, according to Mizan news agency, "Okta Vino Ali Mudin", the Indonesian ambassador to Iran, on Wednesday described the "educational and reform facilities" of this prison as very good and said: "The conditions of the prisoners are very good, and the treatment they receive is very desirable." This is while the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran previously reported on Ward 7 of Evin Prison: "There are four rooms there, none of which have windows, and the small openings of the rooms, which are at ground level, are blocked." According to this campaign, Ward 7 of Evin Prison is "full of biting insects like bedbugs, which have caused exacerbation of heart, respiratory, and skin diseases for the prisoners." While the capacity of Evin Prison is reported to be one thousand prisoners, reports indicate that more than five thousand prisoners are held there. Taghi Rahmani regarding the situation in Evin Prison says: "Even the ambassadors who participated in the visit to Evin know that the situation in our prisons is not like this. Prisons hold several times their capacity of prisoners, and many prisoners' rights are considered as a privilege. Narges Mohammadi, because she refuses to give a written commitment, has not come to the leave she is entitled to, and many nameless prisoners are not in good conditions, whether political or non-political prisoners." Kazem Gharibabadi, Deputy for International Affairs of the Human Rights Headquarters of the Judiciary, stated that the goals of this visit were to counter the "baseless and false claims of some countries regarding human rights issues against Iran" and said that the ambassadors were "astonished by the conditions and status of Evin Prison and its inmates." This is while, according to Taghi Rahmani, "these displays have another meaning." Taghi Rahmani says: "Javad Larijani attacks human rights organizations severely in television debates within the country, while on the other hand, he invites ambassadors to put on a human rights display." Mr. Rahmani emphasized: "I believe both the ambassadors and the officials know what is happening. It is enough to read the reports of official authorities regarding the situation of prisoners in Iran. In my opinion, the head of the judiciary must take practical action to solve this issue, and practical action has no place in their policies." Mizan news agency concluded its report with the sentences: "During the visit to Evin Prison, they saw with their own eyes that in Iranian prisons, there is no news of torture, nor are there doors with locked locks." This news agency also wrote that in Evin Prison, "no prisoner remains without a doctor" and "citizen rights are the guiding principle of all staff's behavior with prisoners." This is while human rights organizations have repeatedly protested in recent months about the "delay" in providing services to prisoners and the inadequacy of medical services in the prison.