There has been an increase since 26 September in the number of prisoners of conscience taken from Orumiyeh Central Prison to IRGC’s security detention centre in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan province.
Recently, Kurdish political prisoner Nayeb Askari has been returned from the detention centre of the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to Orumiyeh Central Prison.
On 11 October, he was taken from the ward for political prisoners of the prison to the detention facility.
Five other prisoners of conscience, Mohyeddin Ebrahimi, Mohyeddin Tazehvared, Davoud Jabbari, Ebrahim Khalil Sedigh Hamedani, Salar Khalil Sedigh Hamedani, and three non-political prisoners named Farzin Ghaderi, Amir Mohammadi, and Kamal Khakzad, are still being held in the detention facility.
Following changes in the administration of the security institutions in Orumiyeh and the head of the special office of the Ministry of Intelligence in the city prison, the pressures and filing of new cases against political and non-political prisoners have increased.
Reportedly, after about ten years, the Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC has taken over the special office that was previously under the control of the Ministry of Intelligence.
As part of the new policies of this military-security institution, on 26 October, the eight political and non-political prisoners were simultaneously transferred to the detention centre of the Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC.
Since their transfer, Tazehvared has told his family in a short phone call that he was held in the detention centre of the Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC in Al-Mahdi base in Orumiyeh.
Among these prisoners, Mohyeddin Ebrahimi and Mohyeddin Tazehvared are sentenced to the death penalty, while non-political prisoner Kamal Khakzad is sentenced to “retribution in kind” (qisas).
