Last week, the Iranian regime took the ambassadors of 45 foreign countries for a tour of the notorious Evin prison in Tehran to judge for themselves how the state treats prisoners. The tour came one day after Javad Larijani, the head of the Iranian regime's so-called "Human Rights Organization," claimed there are no political prisoners in #Iran.
This was an attempt to debunk the increasing wave of international criticism at Iran's human rights violations, especially in its prisons.
In the evidently pre-arranged setting, visitors were taken to distinct locations where prisoners were shown to have access to education, media, communications, and work. Disappointingly, some of the attendants, including the ambassadors of Indonesia, Portugal, and South Korea, praised the regime for the humane conditions in its prisons and its treatment of prisoners, according to state-run media.
Meanwhile, political prisoners continue to linger under unbearable conditions in prisons that no foreign diplomat is allowed to visit.
One example is Majid Assadi, a political activist who was arrested by agents of the regime's intelligence ministry on Feb. 18. Assadi was kept in solitary confinement under severe duress for 50 days, and was incarcerated in Evin's wards 209 and 240 for months before being transferred to the Gohadasht prison in Karaj, west of Tehran. Incidentally, his transfer took place a short while before the foreign ambassadors' tour of Evin.
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