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Rights Group: Iranian Security Forces Raid Sunni Prison Ward

by Michael Lipin

   An Iran-based human rights group says dozens of Iranian security
   personnel have raided a prison ward housing minority Sunni inmates in
   the city of Karaj, beating the prisoners and taking their belongings.

   In a [1]report published Thursday, Iran's Human Rights Activist News
   Agency (HRANA) said it learned of Tuesday's incident at the Rajaei
   Shahr prison in Karaj's Gohardasht district from an informed source.

   HRANA, one of the few Iranian rights groups gathering reliable
   information from inside Iran, quoted the source as saying the prison
   raid targeted a ward housing Sunnis detained for their religious and
   political activities.

   HRANA's source said about 30 intelligence ministry agents and 50
   Special Forces of the prison raided the ward at 11 p.m. Tuesday local
   time, smashing and removing personal belongings of the inmates and
   beating them as they brought those inmates to an open area of the
   prison, where they were kept until 2 a.m. Wednesday. HRANA's source
   also accused the Iranian Shiite security forces of insulting the Sunni
   prisoners' religious beliefs during the raid.

   HRANA said its source reported that prison authorities denied medical
   care to Sunni inmates who were wounded during the raid. But the source
   said three prisoners from the ward, whose names were published in the
   HRANA report, were treated in the prison's medical facility for
   existing health problems, while two other named prisoners were
   transferred to a hospital outside the prison. There were no reports of
   the Karaj prison incident or its aftermath in Iranian state media.

   Exiled Iranian rights groups such as Iran Human Rights Monitor and the
   Center for Human Rights in Iran have reported previous cases of Iranian
   authorities using harsh tactics against Sunnis and other prisoners of
   conscience at Karaj's Rajaei Shahr prison in recent years. They said
   prisoners have been deprived of basic rights such as clothes, medicine
   and meetings with family members.

   This report was produced in collaboration with [2]VOA's Persian
   Service.

   Michael covers international news for VOA on the web, radio and TV,
   specializing in the Middle East and East Asia Pacific. Follow him on
   Twitter [3]@Michael_Lipin

References

   1. https://www.hra-news.org/2018/hranews/b-16507-2/
   2. https://ir.voanews.com/
   3. https://twitter.com/Michael_Lipin