Don't forget Iran's political prisoners

guardian.co

Concerns about the nuclear programme should not lead us to overlook the regime's appalling human rights violations

In February 1979, one day after protesters in Iran declared victory for the Islamic Revolution, they stormed Evin prison, which had long been a symbol of the Shah's tyranny.

Emadeddin Baghi, a prisoners' rights advocate, was among the jubilant revolutionaries who inspected the cells maintained by Savak, the Shah's secret service, and vowed that the prison would become a museum where everyone could see the injustice of the fallen regime.

What Baghi did not know was that the jail, far from becoming a museum, would resume its old use and that he himself would be imprisoned in the same cells decades later.

I remember him saying once that Block 209, a special area for political prisoners – where he has been incarcerated for at least four years out of the last 10, and is still being kept today – has not changed much since he visited it during the revolution, though the cells – originally constructed by the Israelis – have become tighter and darker with narrower windows.

Since the revolution, Evin prison, in the foothills of the mountains north-west of Tehran, has accommodated thousands of political and human rights activists. Its most gruesome days came in 1988 with the massacre authorised by Ayatollah Khomeini.

Today, Evin houses hundreds of students, along with Iran's most educated activists and political figures. There are so many students inside that protesters have dubbed it a university; they shout: "Iran has become a prison, Evin has become a university."

Most of Evin's political prisoners have been incarcerated as a result of trials lasting just a few minutes – sometimes without the presence of their lawyers. The charges are usually vague – "acting against national security" or "propaganda against the regime". Many, however, are not tried at all and are kept in solitary confinement for years on end.

Ironically, the lawyers who represented Evin's political prisoners are now also becoming victims of the unjust judicial system that sent their clients to jail.

Among them is Nasrin Sotoudeh, a 45-year-old human rights lawyer who represented several prisoners arrested in the aftermath of the disputed election in 2009. She is now on hunger strike. Several other Evin prisoners have also been on hunger strike, among them, Mohammad Nourizad, a documentary filmmaker, Isa Saharkhiz, a journalist and Hassan Shahabi, a member of the union of workers.

Two of Sotoudeh's colleagues, Sara Sabbaghian and Maryam Kian Arasi, were released this week but many still remain in Evin. Shadi Sadr, another human rights lawyer, told me that when she was taken to Evin last year, she was kept in the same cell where her client, Shiva Nazar Ahari, was kept the night before.

Most of the arrested journalists are also kept in Evin. Seven were arrested only last week. They included Mehran Faraji, a former reporter for the Hamshahri, Etemadeh Melli and Kargozaran newspapers, along with others from Shargh newspaper (one of the few remaining reformist papers in the country): Reyhaneh Tabatabaei, Keyvan Mehregan, Ahmad Gholami, Farzaneh Roustaei, Amir Hadi Anvari.

More than 100 journalists and bloggers have been imprisoned in Iran since the disputed election last June, making it the world's leading enemy of free expression. At least 65 remain in jail – a greater number than any single country has kept imprisoned since 1996.

Last week the parents of protesters killed in the post-election turmoil were arrested in Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery, Tehran, while celebrating the birthday of Amir Tajmir, who is buried there. The mother of Sohrab Araabi and the father of Ramin Ramezanifar, who also died in the unrest, were detained. Arabi's mother, Parvin Fahimi, has become politically active since the death of her son and has repeatedly spoken out in support of those in prison but, sadly, she has reportedly been taken to Evin, the prison from which she received the dead body of her young son after he had been tortured in custody.

Very little information has been come out of Evin since last year but a few prisoners have succeeded in sending out letters, giving accounts of their ordeals. Some letters were written from the prison hospital.

One shocking account came from Hamzeh Karami, a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards who supported the opposition during the election last year. Karami wrote that his head was pushed into a toilet bowl several times to make him confess that he had sexual affairs with relatives of opposition leaders.

Some of the ministers, deputy ministers and governors who had worked under the former reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, were taken to Evin last year. Four out of five main figures who took US diplomats hostage shortly after the revolution have also been kept in Evin since last year.

Recently, Leila Tavassoli, who saw a protester run over and killed by a police car during last year's demonstrations – and spoke out about the incident – was taken back to Evin to serve a two-year prison term. She will spend the first two years of her marriage in Evin.

Making Iran more isolated by imposing more sanctions that affect the people instead of the government will just help Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government to suppress the opposition without bothering about the international attention. China's handling of Liu Xiaobo's Nobel prize has probably sent a bad message to Iran – that it can survive as far as it keep itself powerful.

Iran's nuclear programme might remain as the most important concern for the international community next year, but what is clear to me is that the important story for Iranians is not the nuclear programme, which Ahmadinejad usually uses to distract attention from Iran's human rights violations, but the fate of the prisoners and those whose human rights are violated. Don't forget human rights in Iran.