Second Assault on Arash Moghaddam Aslanpour and Shahram Chinian after They Sent a Letter to Khamenei from Rajaee Shahr Prison

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Source: exilesactivist.wordpress.com

Translation by Iran Press Watch

21st of Feb 2015

By Vandad Didehgah

Activists in Exile: On Saturday the 21st of February 2015, Shahram Chinian and Arash Moghaddam Aslanpour, two inmates of Rajaee Shahar prison, were heavily assaulted by several prison guards, joined by other inmates.

According to Peace Activist Campaign in Exile’s information, on that day Shahram Chinian, a Baha’i prisoner in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj, after writing a second letter to the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, was seriously beaten for the second time. Arash Moghaddam Aslanpour, a prisoner in Correction Center No. 10 at the same prison, was also attacked by several inmates, heavily beaten and seriously injured.

aslanpour
Arash Moghaddam Aslanpour

Due to his refusal to wear a prisoner’s uniform, Chinian had been beaten severely by prison guards in October of last year.

From his prison location, Section 12 for political convicts, he was transferred to Section One for criminal inmates, which was a prison for keeping armed robbers, murderers and other violent criminals, because he wrote a letter to the Iranian Supreme Leader. This transfer was his punishment. A few days after his transfer, he wrote another letter to Ayatollah Khamenei, complaining of the inhumane conditions at the prison. In a section of the same letter, he indicated that “It has been few weeks since one of my fellow prisoners and I have been kept in this place, in which living conditions are deplorable. These do not comply with any regulations or legal standards specified in the penal code. These include sanitation and food quality, prisoner’s safety and wellbeing. But there are two points to which prison officials pay close attention. These are drugs and narcotics, which can enter the prison as easily as Islamic literature and the writings of  religious leaders and clergy.”

This letter led to his transfer to solitary confinement for five days.

Although there is no information at hand about the reason for today’s attack, many eye-witnesses said that Shahram Chinian’s injuries were so severe that initially they could not even recognise him. Reliable sources also emphatically stated that due to his injuries he was not able to speak.

chinian
Shahram Chinian

Shahram Chinian, a Baha’i prisoner at Rajai Shahr, was initially arrested and imprisoned in February, 2009. After one year at Evin Prison, he was released on bail; however, the 28th Branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court sentenced him to eight years of imprisonment and 70 lashes of  the whip for blasphemy. While his case was under appeal, he was summoned on Jan, 15th, 2012, arrested and imprisoned, first in Evin, and then transferred to Rajai Shahr.

Arash Moghaddam Aslanpour, another prisoner who was beaten today in Rajai Shahr Prison, is a Zoroastrian who is an activist in education and culture. He was arrested on 11th August, 2013 in the city of Karaj by Ministry of Information agents, then transferred to Section 209 of the Information Ministry branch at Evin Prison.

He was sentenced to eight years of incarceration on charges of blasphemy and propaganda against the State.

On the 29th of December of this year, Aslanpour was sentenced to one more year of imprisonment by the 15th Branch of  the Islamic Revolutionary Court under presiding Judge Salavati, in connection to the attacks of security guards in Hall 350.

After the well-known incident of “Black Thursday” at Evin Prison*, he was transferred to Correction Centre No. 10 at Rajai Shahr.

*Black Thursday is described in detail at this site: https://www.amnesty.org/en/articles/news/2014/05/iran-must-investigate-black-thursday-brutality-evin-prison/

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