Detained Iranian writer decries treatment of prisoners at Evin Prison

Mohammad Nourizad

Detained Iranian filmmaker and journalist described Evin Prison as the “Second Kahrizak” in a letter to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.

Kahrizak is a detention centre which was closed down last summer by the direct order of Ayatollah Khamenei and later confirmed that post-election detainees at this centre were tortured, abused and killed.

Nourizad, who is currently being held at Evin Prison, has written the letter at the behest of the Prosecutor-General. The letter indicates that Tehran Prosecutor-General, Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi visited Nourizad and urged him to write a letter of apology to the Supreme Leader.

He writes: “At Evin Prison, I have been subjected to insults and beatings by illiterate interrogators.”

He adds that interrogators “use the ugliest methods to extract their confessions from the accused,” and goes on to say: “I really would have liked to introduce the second Kahrizak to you, if you could visit this place in person, and tell you of the disastrous behaviour of people who claim to be the soldiers of the Hidden Imam.”

Mohammad Nourizad was arrested in the course of post-election protests to the alleged electoral fraud that gave Mahmoud Ahmadinejad another term at the presidency. He published three letters addressed to the Supreme Leader in critique of the violent confrontation of election protesters and was arrested in December for the charge of insulting the Leader and the Head of the Judiciary.

The preliminary court has sentenced Nourizad to three and a half years in prison and fifty lashes.

Nourizad started a hunger strike last week and on the third day of his strike, Tehran’s Prosecutor-General visited him in person.

In a note that was published today on Kaleme website, Nourizad describes the details of that visit and Prosecutor-General’s demand for a letter of apology for the Supreme Leader.

According to Nourizad’s note, he tells the Prosecutor-General: “I will not ask for a pardon because I believe I have not committed any error.”

The detained writer criticizes the lawlessness of the Islamic Republic judiciary which Nourizad claims “has no relation to Islam.”

The filmmaker also adds that most of the Islamic Republic official bodies are “corrupt” and advises Tehran Prosecutor to resign from his position, as according to him, “Justice in our judicial system is a big joke.”