Former Political Prisoner Files Complaint Against Guard for 'Beating' in Tabriz

Armita Paveer, a former political prisoner, announced that she has filed a complaint against one of the guards at Tabriz prison for assault 'with intent to kill.' On Tuesday, December 11, she shared an image of a summons she received as a plaintiff to attend a hearing regarding her case on social media platform X, stating that an individual named 'Somayeh Ghafouri' had 'brutally beaten' her in a 'quiet hall' 'with a premeditated evil plan' and she does not know 'on whose orders' this was done. She addressed the guard, saying: 'Your colleagues denied what you did to me, even though they knew what you had done, and they tried to disperse my family and loved ones, who were worried about me, from in front of the prison late into the night with tear gas and threats of imprisonment and detention. You never thought I would come out from behind those bars thanks to the kindness and character of the prisoners and pursue my complaint.' This former political prisoner added: 'I had told you to pray that I do not come out alive from prison, for which I regret that day and all my mother's tears.' Armita Paveer also stated that 'whatever the outcome of this case,' it is a 'pure victory' for her, because 'if the verdict is in favor of Somayeh Ghafouri, it will be evidence that the instigator of this assault with intent to kill is the [Islamic Republic] system,' and if it is against her, 'it means that this system operates uniquely in sacrificing its own forces to erase its own traces.' Additionally, Qasem Badi, a lawyer who also has prison experience, said that 'guards, with the support of prison officials and security and judicial institutions,' subject prisoners to 'assault, humiliation, and torture,' and in Tabriz prison, 'Razazadeh, Akbari, and Somayeh Ghafouri are just a few examples.' Pressure on prisoners, especially 'systematic abuse' of political prisoners and opponents of the Islamic Republic, has been reported multiple times from various prisons in Iran. There have also been numerous reports of suicides and self-immolation protests by prisoners due to widespread human rights violations by the Islamic Republic's judicial authorities. The continued widespread violations of prisoners' rights in the Islamic Republic's prisons occur while the Islamic Republic has restricted the presence of free media and independent human rights researchers in Iran for accurate reporting, and officials from the judiciary and prison organization refuse to respond to independent and impartial media.