Evin Prison: Visiting political prisoners
International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran
04-Mar-2010 (2 comments)

These days the Evin Prison’s visiting hall has no room for a needle to drop. The hall has about 80 cabins specifically designated for visits. This number of cabins is sufficient for the families of political prisoners to quickly undergo their visits; however, unfortunately, the policy of the prison authorities is to send the visitors in groups of ten-people at a time. The process for obtaining the blue colored visitation cards is that the visitors must provide the name of the prisoner, name of the father of the prisoner, and name of the visitors, who must be immediate family members of the prisoner, meaning the father, mother, sister, brother, spouse, and children.

Families of political prisoners start to appear in the visiting hall at 8:00 a.m. daily. But, the authorities in charge of visitation only show up to work at around 9:00 a.m.. The allotted time for visitation is till 2:00 p.m.. But, those who have obtained their cards and have received permission to visit are allowed to stay in the visitation hall after 14:00 till they are done with their visits. However, the card must be obtained first and then whether the prisoner is allowed to have visits or not is reviewed, and after the delivery of a visit permit to the family of the prisoner, finally the names of prisoners are called and their families will find out that they must go upstairs in order to have their visit, a very slow process. Particularly as many of the visitors are parents in advanced ages and t... >>>

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Anonymouse

I hope Evin is one day demolished & replaced w/ something good.

by Anonymouse on Fri Mar 05, 2010 08:13 AM PST

Everything is sacred.


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AsteroidX

Thanks for posting this

by AsteroidX on Thu Mar 04, 2010 03:15 PM PST

It is not just the visiting rights which are appalling. It is a nighmare scenario for those arrested and incarcerated. It is a prison with a capacity of 1,122 that now, according to statistics, houses more than 5,500 prisoners. The presence of political and ideological prisoners alongside other criminals imposes horrible conditions on the political prisoners. Some longtime prisoners carry skin and digestive diseases, AIDS, Hepatitis, and other contagious diseases brought on by their extended stay in the prison. They even suffer from mental illnesses and sometimes completely lose control of themselves. These disease-ridden conditions, coupled with the fear of attack by another prisoner with a knife or sharp object, cause most of the ideological prisoners to stay awake all night to protect their lives. This continuing situation leads most prisoners to mental illness, among dozens of other problems. Psychological pressure stemming from the unbearable conditions of unit one in the Rajayee Shahr prison results in the suicide or attempted suicide of many prisoners. The prison health clinic, despite its mental and psychological divisions, only medicates the prisoners with downers and anti-depressants. 


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