Rights abuses against women political prisoners in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison have intensified since a 12-day war with Israel, an informed source told Iran International, with an inmate's suicide attempt highlighting mounting pressure in the ward.
Around 20 political prisoners in Evin’s women ward have repeatedly gathered in the head warden’s office over the past week, demanding an end to what they describe as deliberate obstruction by prison officials, a halt to guards’ violence and proper access to medical treatment, the source said on Thursday.
The prisoners have also called for improvements in food and hygiene inside the ward, saying basic standards have sharply deteriorated since the new security team from Qarchak prison took over.
The source, herself a political prisoner, said inmates have since been sent to solitary confinement on various pretexts, while family visits and phone calls are frequently cut off as punishment.
Suicide attempt
The source said one political prisoner in the women’s ward recently attempted suicide after officials repeatedly blocked the implementation of her release order.
Cellmates intervened and saved her before asking the duty officer for help, but the guard refused to assist despite the emergency, the source said.
The prisoner, whose name Iran International is withholding for security reasons, is said to be in a deeply fragile psychological state.
According to her fellow inmates, prison authorities keep finding pretexts to prevent her release despite repeated protests over the refusal to carry out a lawful decision.
Denial of care
In the absence of proper medical care, the prayer room of the women’s ward has effectively been turned into a makeshift space to hold sick prisoners, the source told Iran International.
The source accused prison officials of obstructing the implementation of laws on medical furloughs and conditional release on bail for inmates with serious illnesses, despite clear legal provisions allowing such measures.
According to the source, political prisoner Aida Najafloo, who underwent surgery for a fractured vertebra, was returned to prison before completing treatment and is now suffering from a severe infection and critical physical condition.
Najaflou is among five Christians handed combined prison terms totaling more than 50 years.
The source also cited the case of Masoumeh Sadr Eshkevari, who suffers from lung, respiratory, heart and mobility problems and breathes with the help of an oxygen device.
Despite doctors’ emphasis on the need for treatment outside prison, she has been denied medical furlough as well as her legal right to release her on bail, with fellow inmates left to push her wheelchair and help her use the bathroom and shower.
New charges
The source said that the release orders for two political prisoners, Baha’i community leader Fariba Kamalabadi and labor activist Narges Mansouri, have not been implemented since October because of obstruction by prison authorities.
Narges Mansouri, 46, is a member of the Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company and the mother of a 13‑year‑old child.
Instead, they and five other women now face new charges after they protested officials’ role in the death of political prisoner Somayeh Rashidi, who passed away in Qarchak following alleged medical neglect.
Somayeh Rashidi died after several days in hospital following her transfer from Qarchak prison in September.
All seven have been charged with “insulting the Supreme Leader” and “disturbing prison order,” with courts setting bail of 80 million tomans for each, the source said. Some of the women have also faced weeks‑long bans on visits and phone calls as additional pressure.
According to Amnesty International, Iranian authorities have executed more than 1,000 people so far this year, the highest annual figure recorded by the group in at least 15 years.
