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Iran-HRM – A female civil rights activist was beaten by a non-political inmate who has the support of an official in Kachuei Prison in Karaj, west of Tehran.
Reports indicate that civil rights activist Yasaman Ariani was attacked by several prisoners detained for common crimes on Wednesday.
The women’s rights activist is imprisoned for her opposition to the Iranian regime’s policy of mandatory Hijab.
The violence was reportedly directed against Ms. Ariani because of her recent protest against deprivation of basic rights such as the right to access to a library and participation in the theater.
Ariani has reportedly been deprived of these rights for being a “political prisoner” and was beaten by several public crime prisoners when she tried to meet with the head of the ward to protest.
Anti-compulsory hijab activists Yasaman Ariyani and her mother Monireh Arabshahi, were exiled from Evin Prison to Kachuei Prison in Karaj, in October 2020.
Ariyani and her mother, Monireh Arabshahi were arrested on April 10 and 11, 2019, respectively, after a video widely shared on social media on March 8, 2019, International Women’s Day, in which they were seen handing out flowers in the Tehran metro while suggesting to passengers that the hijab should be a choice.
The two activists have been sentenced to 16 years in prison (10 years for “encouraging people to corruption and prostitution,” five years for “assembly and collusion against national security” and one year for “propaganda against the state”) at Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran on July 31, 2019.
According to Iran’s prison laws, prisoners should be separated according to their crimes.
Article 69 of the prisons organization’s regulations states that: “All convicts, upon being admitted to walled prisons or rehabilitation centers, will be separated based on the type and duration of their sentence, prior record, character, morals and behavior, in accordance with decisions made by the Prisoners Classification Council.”
However, Iranian authorities do not implement the law to put more pressure on political prisoners and isolate them.
Political prisoners are kept alongside dangerous criminals and are regularly beaten and threatened, most times, on orders of prison authorities, by nonpolitical prisoners.
