Sepideh Qolian, one of Iran’s most prominent women activists, described the torture and interrogations that have been taking place in Iran’s notorious Evin prison. BBC reported that Qolian has written a letter from inside the jail. She is serving a five-year prison sentence handed down in 2018 for what the courts called actions ‘against national security’. At the time, she had supported a strike.
In her letter, she has described the brutal treatment she herself received along with other inmates.
Iran is still witnessing protests that began after the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. She was detained by Iran’s moral police for her ‘inappropriate’ attire.
“In the fourth year of my imprisonment I can finally hear the footsteps of the liberation of all of Iran,” Qolian said in his letter, quoted by the BBC.
“The echoes of ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ can be heard even through the thick walls of Evin Prison.”
In your letter, you say that a part of Evin Prison has been turned into a “torture and interrogation” building.
Qolian, who is studying law inside the prison, has described how detainees or arrestees are questioned in the examination room.
“The examination room is full of boys and girls and the screams of the torturers can be heard,” he says in his letter.
On Iran’s state television, dozens of confessions have been aired so far. There are allegations that these confessions are coerced and often extracted under torture.
In his letter, Qolian described a scene he witnessed on December 28, 2022.
“It is very cold and snowing, near the exit door of the building, a blindfolded boy dressed only in a thin gray T-shirt is sitting in front of an interrogator”
“He’s shaking and begging, ‘I swear to God I didn’t hit anyone.’ They want me to confess. As he passed he shouted: ‘DO NOT confess’ and ‘Death to tyrants'”.
According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Iranian authorities have made 19,300 arrests. So far, at least 519 protesters have been killed. These include 69 children.
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