Pressures Grow on Prisoners in Mahabad Prison

HRANA News Agency – Mahabad prison inmates have faced a new round of pressure and violation of rights, after a change in the prison’s presidency.

According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency in Iran (HRANA), this year, in March Hassan Hosseinpoor was appointed as the new warden of Mahabad prison, instead of Shahrokh Ahmadzadeh.

New warden, on his arrival, changed the visiting and leave schedule which was followed by prisoners protest and in a reaction he threatened them with incommunicado, exile and “legal actions”.

In this regard, a relative of these prisoners told HRANA’s reporter, “Mahabad prison itself is a prison of exile, but as a lot of families living in this city are not happy that their children would be transferred to other prisons even if those prisons have better condition.”

Forced stay in prison yard and keeping prisoners there for long time even in the rain are other parts of the new programs in Mahabad prison that prisoners protested against them.

About seven hundred prisoners are kept in Mahabad prison, while according to HRANA’s sources the capacity of this prison is about four hundred prisoners and this has caused overcrowding there and many prisoners have to sleep on the floor.

Also, about forty political prisoners in Mahabad prison are held with other defendants.

According to HRANA’s informed sources, about fifty prisoners who are on death row are kept in Mahabad prison, and they are mainly convicted on drug-related charges.