Following protests in Tabriz and Orumiyeh prisons during recent days, at least 10 prisoners have been reportedly transferred to security detention centres in these cities.
“On Monday, March 31, prisoners of ward 2-1 at Orumiyeh Central Prison protested due to not being granted furlough despite the fears over the danger of the Coronavirus spreading. After the protest began, dozens of prison guards were stationed in front of the gate and threatened to shoot the prisoners if they continued their protest.”, an informed source at Orumiyeh told Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).
“A number of forces, in coordination with the Special forces of Intelligence Bureau based in the prison, took 8 death row prisoners to the wards 14 and 15 while covering their head with bags and transferred them to a security detention centre in Orumiyeh.”, the source added.
According to the source, prison officials have already installed a nozzle in sections 2-1 and 4-3, and Special Forces Unit has a significant presence in the main corridor of the prison.
An informed source in Tabriz told KHRN that 4 prisoners were transferred to a security detention centre on Monday, March 31, while four others were taken to a secure ward.
According to the source, Dariush Tahmasebi, a prisoner injured during protests before entering ward 2 after returning from the hospital, and two other prisoners “Yasir Asghari and Esfandiar Vahedi” have been transferred to a secure ward in the prison and deprived visit and contact with their families. Two other prisoners, Shahram Baygan and Aboufazl Saremi, have also been transferred to a security detention facility by security forces.
More than 700 prison held at the wards 7 and 11 of Tabriz Central Prison started a protest at noon on March 07 due to the refusal of prison authorities to grant them furlough despite the risk of coronavirus spreading in the prison. The protestors put their blankets on fire. This protest led to the entry of the guards to the ward. The prison guards violently attacked the prisoners of these two wards, as a result of which at least 7 prisoners were injured.
