On Thursday January 17, 2013, a large number of prison guards along with anti-riot unit, raided Ward 350 of Evin prison, conducting a search of the Ward and body searches of the prisoners.

According to Kalameh, this raid and inspection of Ward 350 was conducted in an unprecedented manner which resulted in altercations between the political prisoners and the deployed forces.

During this raid, all of the note books and writings of the prisoners were collected and the treatment of prisoners by guards, has been reported “extremely harsh”.

The political prisoners showed their protest to this raid by singing “Ey Iran” anthem, “Yare Dabestani” song and by chants of “Death to dictator”, “Death to the oppressor, whether it be a king or a Leader”.

This unprecedented and violent action by the prison guards and the anti-riot unit, coordinated by the Judicial authorities and prison officials, shows the extent of recent pressure put on the political prisoners.

The atmosphere at Ward 350 had become tense in the past few days, because of limitations on visitation rights of some prisoners, and the illegal transfer of Abolfazl Ghadyani to Rejaei Shahr prison.

Considering that the prison officials were well aware of the tense atmosphere in Ward 350, this action should be considered a provocative move in an effort to continue harassment of the political prisoners.

This, when most of the political prisoners, despite believing their trials and sentences were unjust, have tried to comply with the prison’s rules and regulations while asking for their legal rights. The requests for their legal rights, has caused an over-reaction and more violations of the prisoners’ rights by the judicial authorities.

By persianbanoo

Source: Kalameh