Increase in 'Abuse of Political Prisoners'; Group of Women Prisoners in Evin Call for Boycott of 'Asiatech'

A group of political prisoners in the women's ward of Evin Prison issued a statement calling for a boycott of Asiatech, citing 'collusion between prison security and Asiatech.' According to the website 'Kaleme,' the women prisoners wrote: 'Since the signing of the contract between the Prison Organization and Asiatech for prisoners' phones, which is the only way for prisoners to contact the outside world, not only have the phone costs for prisoners increased up to four times, but the quality of the calls has significantly deteriorated.' They criticized this situation, adding: 'We consider this situation a result of collusion aimed at reducing the communication possibilities for prisoners and urge every aware individual to protest against the Prison Organization in any way and to boycott its business partner, Asiatech, to help raise our voices against this situation.' On August 17, Narges Mohammadi, a imprisoned human rights activist, reported in a letter from Evin Prison about an increase in physical abuse and beatings of female political prisoners in the past three months. In the letter, published on Narges Mohammadi's Instagram page on August 17, it was stated that in recent months, women and girls have entered the women's ward 'with bruised and injured faces and bodies.' Mohammadi noted that despite their protests to the ward office, physical violence against women has intensified. In her letter, she mentioned a woman around 70 years old who was 'beaten so badly on the night of her arrest that the darkness around her eyes and the bruises on her face and body' did not fade until 25 days later when she was released on bail. This human rights activist also spoke of a 20-year-old girl whose ribs were injured due to beatings by agents on the street, and another girl whose cheekbone was injured, causing her to moan while eating, with her arms and hands also covered in bruises.