A group of prisoners held in the “secure” and “special” wards of Orumiyeh Central Prison, in West Azerbaijan Province, have reported several suicide attempts in protest at their harsh conditions.
The prisoners raised their concerns in a letter to the head of Iran Prisons’ Organisation and international human rights bodies.
The “secure” and “special” wards are located next to the solitary confinement cells, where prisoners have been transferred to as a form of punishment on the orders of prison officials.
These wards consist of a 30-square-metre rooms, each designed to hold 10 prisoners, but are currently housing double their capacity.
In March, more than 800 prisoners signed an open letter calling for the removal of the prison’s director, Peyman Khanzadeh.
The latest letter, shared with the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), describes severe overcrowding, lack of basic facilities and the denial of family visits.
The prisoners said they were being held “illegally” in the two wards and had lost hope. They said: “Some prisoners in these wards have attempted suicide in protest against the harsh conditions; we have lost hope in life and see solace in death.”
The full text of the letter is as follows:
Help us, the prisoners held in the secure and special wards of Orumiyeh Prison
We, a group of prisoners held in the secure and special wards of Orumiyeh Central Prison, inform you that a secret ward named the special ward has been built in this prison. It is not really a ward but two 30-square-metre rooms called the secure ward and the special ward.
Prisoners held in these two wards are deprived of visiting rights and only in the secure ward is there limited access to contact with family. We are held in these two wards illegally. Among us are individuals who have been transferred here for six months. Our families are extremely worried about us, and we are also unaware of their well-being. No official visits us except the guard officer. Each of us has been transferred here for punishment based on false reports from the prison, and we do not know how long we will stay here. We have repeatedly requested a meeting with the prison head, but to no avail. Some prisoners in these wards have attempted suicide in protest against the harsh conditions; we have lost hope in life and see solace in death. Do we prisoners not have the right to live? Is our life over? Those who protest against this situation are severely tortured by prison officers, and even a doctor does not come here to treat us.
These two wards are so overcrowded that there is no place to sleep. Therefore, we ask the officials of the Iran Prisons’ Organisation to send an inspector to see our condition with their own eyes. We implore you to help us. We can no longer endure this. We also ask the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights [in the Islamic Republic of Iran] to make the voices of us prisoners in the secure and special wards of Orumiyeh Central Prison heard by the public and human rights bodies. We request human rights organisations to address our rights as we prisoners in these two wards have been deprived of all basic prison facilities.
We, 20 prisoners in the secure ward and 19 prisoners in the special ward, confirm this letter and plead for help.
