Express: A former inmate has revealed the horrors of life inside Iran’s prisons where beating and torture are a regular occurrence as British mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe loses hope of ever seeing her daughter again.
For British mother Nazanin Zagahari-Ratclffe, who was on holiday with her small child to visit her family, her supposed offence is spying on the Tehran regime – despite her insistence she was just on holiday.
Now Mr Bahraini, a human rights activist who recently left Iran and moved to Glasgow, has revealed the horrific extent of his harrowing experiences in prison – and what it may well be like for Nazanin.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Hamid said: “I was scared when I was told I was going to prison, especially when they repeatedly threatened to lash me.
“I was interrogated for hours and they said to me that I am arrested because of having the relationship with the democratic opposition PMOI.
“They also accused me of encouraging people to protest and insult Supreme Leader. Having relation with the PMOI cause death penalty in Iran.
“When I was in solitary confinement they attacked my home to get some evidence but fortunately, they took my nephew’s laptop.
“Actually, I was lucky because if they had found my laptop I would have faced with serious charges.”
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband: She’s in a ‘difficult place’
Hamid Bahrami is a former political prisoner, locked up for weeks for filming a protest
“They even didn’t let me sleep.
“Every morning I heard that some people were lashed and screaming from another part of the prison. The lashing had continued until noon.”
And he was repeatedly interrogated, with prison guards trying “to play good cop bad cop role”.
Although he was released after just a week, police raided his home repeatedly – and fled Iran after officers again attacked his home in March 2015, snatching “all my things such as the laptop, books, my writings, and personal things”.
He knew then he could never go home again.
After more than 540 days in Evin Prison, a fellow captor claimed she has been forced to wear a hood during interrogation, and that her hair is falling out due to the stress she is under.
The jail was originally built in 1972 but has now been extended and become the main detention centre for political prisoners.
Jailers are accused of keeping the eight-foot-by-four-foot concert cell well lit to deprive inmates of sleep, with many blocks in the building infested with cockroaches.
Hamid Bahrami is now a political activist and journalist fighting for freedom in Iran
Prisons in Iran are renowned for their In recent months, there have been growing calls for help from political prisoners regarding the deteriorating and dreadful conditions.
Some had managed to smuggle out letters describing their inhuman treatment, including interrogations with hoods and torture devices.
But the Iranian regime responded with an even greater crackdown by deploying highly intrusive 24/7 surveillance and monitoring equipment in prisoners’ cells, as well as in private areas such as showers and bathrooms.
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