A Letter from Rajae Shahr prison in Iran in regards to the death of Afshin Osanloo and the situation of prison
This is not about the death of one person as here humanity and all human dignity is slaughtered. We all sit in mourning for the death of Afshin Osonloo, swallowing our tears. The death of this individual whose only crime was demanding union rights for workers stipulated by the Constitution and the UN Charter of rights; once again proves that the present regime in Iran refuses to obey any national or international laws relating to human rights issues and continues to ignore public opinion about its grotesque human rights violations. The Islamic Republic has been reporting a lot in its state ran media about the human rights violations at Guantanamo Bay prison, but the harsh truth is that its own prisoners especially in smaller provinces are suffering much more that those in Guantanamo Bay. Those who support the regime in Iran are responsible for bringing huge amounts of injustice upon political prisoners inside Iran.
The pain of the injustice of unlawful trials suffered by political prisoners which deny them their most basic human and civil rights puts unimaginable pressures on the prisoners which in turn results in both physical and psychological ailments which can lead to death as seen in the instance of Afshin Osanloo. The prison is terribly overcrowded with very little space to hold everyone. Prisoners are only let out of these packed cells only three hours a day. Prisoners have no access to telephones or contact with their families. During the rare face to face visitation with family all conversations are limited and under strict surveillance. There are no Parole Laws, leaves or furloughs for prisoners what so ever. Prisoners have no access to health facilities or medicine. There are no standards set for the quality of food served in prison and the general conditions are grossly unsanitary. The air inside prison is very poor. The windows inside prison are covered with metal sheet. Prisoners are denied the chance to exercise and they are not allowed activities. Inside Rajai-Shahr prison the human rights violations are so grave that even if a small percentage of our rights were granted to us we would not have witnessed the deaths of political prisoners such as Mohsen Dokmechi, Mehdi Zaleih, Mansour Radpour, Alireza Karami Kheir- Abadi, and Afshin Osanloo.
We have set our hopes on all the freedom loving people both inside Iran and internationally. We do not have and never had any hopes in those governments which are only interested in the oil trade or bloodshed. We ask nothing from those who choose their own narrow interests over humanity and morality.
We, the undersigned hold the despotic Islamic Republic of Iran responsible for the death of Afshin Osanloo and would like to urge all human right organizations and groups, in particular the UN Human Rights Council and Human Rights Commission of the European Union to take immediate, appropriate and effective action regarding this issue.
Signed by the following:
Mohammad Amir Khezri, Saeed Massori, Rasoul Bodaghi , Afshin Baimani, Hamid Reza Borhani, Ramezan Saeedi, Farzad Madadzadeh, Saleh Kohandeh , Loghman Moradi, Zanyar Moradi, Ahmad Tamooi, Jafar ( Shahin) Eghdami
Rajaee Shahr Prison in Iran
June 28, 2013
This letter was received by Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI) directly from prison and it is translated by Shadi Paveh for CFPPI
***Background information:
Afshin Osanloo, a jailed worker and a political prisoner, died in Rajai Shahr Prison in Iran on June 21, 2013. Following months of torture, Afshin Osanloo lost his life as a result of heart attack. According to Afshin’s family, prior to his death, he did not have any record of heart problem. Afshin lost his life as a result of deliberate withdrawal of the necessary medication by the prison officials which caused him suffering a heart attack. Afshin was arrested in 2010 and was frequently tortured. In his letter dated August 2012, Afshin explained that prison guards beat the sole of his feet with cable and forced him to run barefoot immediately after that. He also described how he was subjected to a week-long interrogation, sometime 18 hours each day, while being beaten by a group of men which resulted in his ribs and some teeth being broken.
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