Increase in the Number of Protesters Reported to Have Committed Suicide in Prison

One day after the confirmation of the death of Sina Ghanbari, a participant in the recent protests in Iran, the Human Rights Campaign in Iran reported on Tuesday, January 9, the death of "Vahid Heydari in the Arak detention center." The same organization tweeted on Monday night that in addition to these two individuals, another person named Mohsen Adeli also reportedly committed suicide in Dezful prison. On the other hand, Nasrin Sotoudeh, a human rights lawyer, stated in an interview with Radio Farda that she had heard about "three deaths" in the quarantine section of Evin prison, which the "authorities" attributed to "suicide." Last Monday, Mahmoud Sadeghi, a member of parliament, confirmed the death of Sina Ghanbari, one of the detainees from the recent protests in Evin prison, warning about the potential occurrence of a "second Kahrizak." A judicial official also declared the cause of Sina Ghanbari's death as "suicide." The ISNA news agency quoted the director of Tehran's prisons regarding the cause of Sina Ghanbari's death, stating that he "committed suicide by hanging himself after going to the toilet in the prison quarantine." Now, the Human Rights Campaign in Iran reports, citing relatives of the second victim, that "Vahid Heydari, a young protester from Arak who was arrested on January 1, 2018, was buried on Saturday, January 6." The obituary published by the Human Rights Campaign in Iran for Vahid Heydari states that "he was detained at the 12th precinct of Arak and, according to his family, was a street vendor who was arrested in the same square where he was selling goods. His uncle told the campaign that they buried his nephew's body on Saturday and he has not seen the body." Meanwhile, according to a lawyer quoting "a civil activist" in Arak, Vahid Heydari also committed suicide in prison. Mohammad Najafi, a lawyer, told the Human Rights Campaign that Mr. Heydari's family is "under severe security pressure and has been forced to bury him in a grave and location determined by security agents." Mr. Najafi told the campaign: "One of the civil activists from Arak approached me with news that a person was detained for having ten grams of heroin and hanged himself in the Arak detention center with his own clothes. We followed up and found out that the young man is named Vahid Heydari and is from one of the villages around Shazand, which is nearby, and was arrested on the second day of protests in Arak, on January 1." The Human Rights Campaign, citing Ali Bagheri, one of the civil activists in Arak, states that "everyone says he was killed in detention due to baton strikes. The police here denied that he was killed by a baton and said he was arrested for carrying drugs and committed suicide in detention." On the other hand, Nasrin Sotoudeh, a human rights defense lawyer, said in an interview with Radio Farda on Tuesday that "in a phone call with a political prisoner in Evin, she learned that the number of deaths in Evin's quarantine is three." However, there is still little information available about the third victim, whose name is "Mohsen Adeli" and whose place of death is reported to be Dezful prison. The Human Rights Campaign also does not clarify in its tweet which authority confirmed his suicide. Earlier, Mahmoud Sadeghi, a member of parliament from Tehran, tweeted on Tuesday announcing that the death of Sina Ghanbari, one of the detainees from the recent protests in Evin prison, has been confirmed, warning about the potential occurrence of a "second Kahrizak." He wrote: "In a call I had with an official in one of the intelligence agencies, unfortunately, the death of one of the detainees from the recent unrest in Evin prison was confirmed; I warn the President and security and judicial officials to prevent a second Kahrizak." Mohsen Rouh-al-Amini and many other protesters against the results of the 2009 presidential election were transferred to the Kahrizak detention center after their arrest, which, according to reports, had very poor conditions. According to official reports from the Iranian government, at least three other individuals, in addition to Mohsen Rouh-al-Amini, were killed in this detention center, named Amir Javadifar, Mohammad Kamrani, and Ramin Aghazadeh Ghahremani. Earlier last month, the lawyer for Mohsen Rouh-al-Amini's family reported that Saeed Mortazavi, the then Tehran prosecutor, was sentenced to two years in prison for complicity in the murder that occurred in this detention center. During the recent protests in Iran, which lasted more than a week, at least 25 people lost their lives, and more than a thousand were arrested in several cities across Iran.