Hamid Ismailioon to Nada Al-Nashif: Go to Evin Prison and Meet with Prisoners on Death Row

Hamid Ismailioon, a claimant in the case of the downing of the Ukrainian passenger plane by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reacted to the visit of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' deputy to Iran by stating that he expects her to "go to Evin Prison as soon as she arrives in Tehran" and "meet with prisoners who are on death row." On Thursday, January 25, Ismailioon shared a video on Instagram addressing Nada Al-Nashif, adding: "We expect her to visit political prisoners who are behind the walls of the prisons of tyranny." He also emphasized the increase in executions in Iran in recent months, stating to Al-Nashif: "If there is a reason for your visit to Tehran, it is only to meet with prisoners and victims, and nothing else!" Ismailioon stressed that "the world must unite to stop the executions by the Islamic Republic regime." He announced that "the Islamic Republic regime has turned our country, Iran, into a furnace of oppression, murder, corruption, and terrorism," referring to the execution of Mohammad Qabadi, a young protester, and Farhad Salimi, a Kurdish political prisoner, on Tuesday, January 24, and said: "Thousands of political prisoners are suffering in the dungeons of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran." Ismailioon added that "dozens have been handed over to the execution apparatus of the Islamic Republic, tightening the noose around a nation with fabricated charges in show trials." He also referred to the hunger strike of dozens of political prisoners simultaneously on Thursday "in protest against the cruelty of the Islamic Republic government," adding: "We must be their voice before it is too late for those prisoners who are on death row." This opposition figure also emphasized that the world "must stand with the people of Iran," criticizing the actions of French officials to meet with Islamic Republic officials just hours after the executions of Mohammad Qabadi and Farhad Salimi. Previously, Shirin Ebadi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights defender, on Wednesday, January 24, protested Al-Nashif's upcoming trip to Tehran, urging the senior UN official not to travel to Iran, as the Islamic Republic officials would exploit her visit. Additionally, mothers of four Kurdish political prisoners wrote a letter to Al-Nashif, referring to the issuance of death sentences for their children based on "baseless accusations and fabricated cases by security agencies, after 18 months of enforced disappearance and forced confessions under torture, in an illegal and extrajudicial process that is rapid, opaque, and unjust," asking her to make every effort to "immediately stop the execution of our children and other death row inmates in Iran." Afsaneh Yousefi; mother of Pejman Fatehi, Gohar Chashnigar; mother of Vafa Azarbar, Badiyeh Sharifpour; mother of Mohammad Farahmand, and Mahbubeh Nalbandian; mother of Mohsen Mazloom, in this letter requested that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights deputy "create the necessary executive guarantees to stop this systematic massacre." They also wrote that they expect her to "pressure the Islamic Republic officials regarding the right to meet with family, the right to have a designated lawyer, and to review cases and hold trials in a fair, public, and impartial court." The mothers of the four condemned political prisoners concluded their letter by stating: "As worried mothers who have no remedy or refuge, we ask you to allocate time for a meeting with us; that is, the mothers seeking justice, during your trip to Tehran, so that you can be informed about the stories and details of our children's cases." Dozens of political prisoners in Iran announced that they would simultaneously go on hunger strike today, Thursday, in protest against the executions by the Islamic Republic and to stop them. The executions in Iran have intensified following nationwide protests after the killing of Mahsa Amini while in custody of the morality police, and international human rights organizations have repeatedly warned about its continuation. A senior US government official stated that none of the aspects of the political system in the Islamic Republic of Iran are democratic or transparent, including the management, judicial, and electoral sectors. According to Vedant Patel, the world has been aware of this reality for some time.