Friday, July 03, 2009

Overcrowding at Evin Prison is just the least of the problems

A description of incarceration there on a sweep for protestors (actually the witness here was taken into custody just for supposedly filming protestors):
  • They were headed to the notorious Evin Prison, but M said he was relieved to get there. He knew that's where his family would look for him first. But he was horrified to learn that more than 500 prisoners would be crammed into a cell of about 500 square feet.
  • Older than most of the prisoners, M was designated the cellblock leader, in charge of scheduling four-hour sleeping shifts for the inmates, who had to stand during the rest of the time, share a single toilet or make quick calls to their family on a single phone....
  • Prisoners were frequently singled out and pulled away for interrogation. They came back hours later with bruises or with blood in their urine, he said. Some would be pulled out at 8 a.m. and returned 14 hours later, limping and exhausted.
  • Guards told him that about 4,500 people were swept up June 20, with unaccounted numbers jailed in many other places. At one point, he met a family whose members were all jailed. A man, who was with his two sons, said his wife and daughter were in the women's section of the prison.
  • Finally, M was taken for interrogation. He was blindfolded, never getting a chance to see his questioners. But judging from their voices, they were young men. ("Iran book publisher recalls weeklong ordeal in prison," by Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times, July 2, 2009)

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