Riots broke out yesterday Saturday in the prison of Karaj, about thirty kilometers from the Iranian capital. They are added to a series of similar incidents in detention facilities in the country, which has also been facing mass protests for three months.
A prisoner was killed and 17 others were injured during incidents in an Iranian prison, not far from Tehran, a human rights organization announced on Sunday.
Riots broke out yesterday Saturday in the prison of Karaj, about thirty kilometers from the Iranian capital. They are added to a series of similar incidents in detention facilities in the country, which has also been facing mass protests for three months.
They began when prisoners protested against the transfer to solitary confinement of a fellow prisoner whose execution would take place immediately, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group explained in a statement.
According to the version of the Iranian authorities, a prisoner was killed when he was hit in the head by a stone during a clash between inmates.
A top judge in Alborz province, where Karaj is located, said the riots started in the ward where prisoners are held on drug charges and that inmates set fire to blankets, causing a fire. He assured that the situation in the prison has now normalized.
In October, at least eight inmates died in a fire at Tehran’s Evin prison, which authorities said was caused by “thugs”.
Non-governmental organizations dispute the official version of events in Evin, where political prisoners are known to be mistreated and where foreigners are often held.
In the same month, riots also broke out in the prison of Rast, the capital of Gilan province (northwest).
According to IHR, prisoners in Karaj shouted slogans against the regime, especially “death to the dictator”, closed doors, broke surveillance cameras.
The NGO said the prisoner who surrendered was named Mohsen Mansoori and was hit in the head by a bullet. Another 17 prisoners were injured and had to be admitted to hospitals, he added.
According to authorities, they suffered only minor injuries.
The identity of the prisoner at risk of execution was not released.
The new episodes are recorded in a country that has been shaken for the last three months by a wave of protests, which was triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. The young Iranian of Kurdish origin had been arrested three days earlier by the morality police for violating the strict dress code imposed on women.
According to the UN, at least 14,000 people have been arrested in the crackdown on protests, causing, according to human rights defenders, a terrible problem of overcrowding in prisons.
The non-governmental organization Amnesty International said on Friday that at least 26 people were at risk of execution for cases linked to the mass protests. Iran has already executed two protesters this month, sparking outrage in the West.
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