Thirteen Exiled Political Prisoners in Ghezal Hesar Barred from All Contact and Visits

A source close to the families of thirteen political prisoners exiled from Evin Prison to Ghezal Hesar Prison in Karaj reported that these prisoners have been banned from phone contact and visits by direct order of the prison warden. The news agency Hrana, the media organ of human rights activists in Iran, reported on Tuesday, September 25, that today, when the families of these prisoners went to the prison to visit them, they faced insulting treatment from the guards and were told that by order of Ashkan Kamali, the warden of Ghezal Hesar Prison, these political prisoners are prohibited from any contact and visits. The thirteen individuals, including Laghman Aminpour, Saeed Masouri, Afshin Baymani, Sepehr Imam Jom'e, Zartosht Ahmadi Raghb, Mohammad Shafaei, Saman Saidi (Yasin), Hamzeh Savari, Kamyar Fakour, Ahmadreza Haeri, Reza Salmanzadeh, Jafar Ebrahimi, and Masoud Reza Ebrahimi Nejad, are serving their sentences without adherence to the principle of separation of crimes in Ghezal Hesar Prison. On Wednesday, September 20, without prior notice, they were taken out of Unit 3 of Ghezal Hesar and, by order of the warden, were transferred to the Quran Hall of Unit 4 of this prison, which houses inmates convicted of drug-related offenses, while being insulted. They were deprived of taking their personal belongings, including clothes and other necessities during the transfer. According to reports, these prisoners were summoned on September 3 under the pretext of being sent to the prison clinic but were handcuffed and shackled after leaving their cell. Subsequently, the guards of Evin Prison forcibly and humiliatingly loaded these political prisoners into a vehicle, and after being transferred to Ghezal Hesar, they were imprisoned in a small room in Unit 3 known as the 'secure unit'.