Iranian Political and Civil Activists Protest the Isolation of Prisoners

A group of Iranian political and civil activists, under the title "Opponents of Solitary Confinement," wrote a letter to Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, calling the isolation of prisoners "illegal, un-Islamic, and immoral." According to the Jaras website, close to reformists, the signatories of this letter on Tuesday, March 2, also urged Mr. Rouhani to take "immediate" action to end this "clear violation." The letter was signed by figures such as Fa'ezeh Hashemi, Ebrahim Yazdi, Ahmad Montazeri, Mohammad Tosuli, Narges Mohammadi, Majid Dary, and Eisa Saharkhiz. Members of the "Opponents of Solitary Confinement" group stated that they are working through a legal, ethical, and humanitarian movement aimed at abolishing solitary confinement "as a form of torture." This group emphasized that the detention of political and ideological defendants in Iran in solitary confinement is not provided for in "any" legal regulations. According to the authors of this letter, under the criminal procedure regulations, a judicial authority may only order the separation of a defendant from other defendants related to the same case and charge to prevent collusion. The group stated that despite this, many defendants are not only held in solitary confinement but are also deprived of facilities such as radio, television, books, newspapers, paper, pens, and are completely cut off from their environment, even deprived of fresh air. In recent years, especially after the protests against the results of the 2009 presidential election, numerous reports have been published about the prolonged detention of political and ideological prisoners in solitary confinement. Reports indicate that Mostafa Tajzadeh, the political deputy of the Minister of Interior in Mohammad Khatami's government, has been serving his prison term in solitary confinement for nearly four years and has been on a hunger strike in protest of his detention conditions during this time. Members of the "Opponents of Solitary Confinement" emphasized in their letter: "Defendants imprisoned in solitary confinement become afflicted with physical and mental illnesses after a while, and some have made confessions and television interviews that they later deemed as the result of psychological and physical pressures after their release from prison." After group trials of protesters against the results of the 2009 presidential election, several participants in these trials stated that they confessed due to prolonged solitary confinement and physical and psychological torture. Among them, Hamzeh Karami, a close associate of Mehdi Hashemi, reported in a letter to Gholamhossein Mohseni Eje'i, the Attorney General of Iran, about "psychological and physical tortures for forced confessions" in September 2010. According to the "Opponents of Solitary Confinement," based on the opinions of psychologists and psychiatrists, solitary confinement is "white torture." They also referenced the fatwas of Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri and Ayatollah Yousef Sanei, Shia sources of emulation, stating that solitary confinement is "not permissible." The letter also referred to statements by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, who, according to the authors of this letter, had previously stated that one day in solitary confinement is equivalent to "the hardship of ten days" in regular prison. Previously, reports had emerged regarding the Supreme Leader's earlier remarks about the equivalence of one day in solitary confinement to ten days in regular prison, as well as his recent fatwas regarding the prohibition of solitary confinement. For instance, Mohammad Ali Esfahani, the spokesman for the Judicial Commission of the Parliament, stated on May 10, 2013, that "the Supreme Leader has recently issued a fatwa to the Guardian Council that solitary confinement is torture. Therefore, if a ruling is issued in this regard, it is practically illegal." However, the office of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran has not yet denied these reports.