OIAC Human Rights Update October 18, 2022

OIAC Human Rights Update
Sunday, October 18, 2022

The Count:

• Days: 33^rd day
• Protests: 193 cities
• Fatalities: 400+ estimated deaths, 224 identified.
• Detentions: 20,000+

Latest

• Protest rallies started today with student protests in several cities. A government spokesperson visiting Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran faced protesting gathering of students who chanted, “Scoundrel, Scoundrel!”, “Shame on you!”, and “We don’t want a murderous guest”.
• Protests continued in other universities in Tehran and several major cities, such as Babolsar, Tabriz, and Rasht. Protesters chanted slogans, “Not Gaza! Not Lebanon! My life for Iran!”, “Death to the oppressor! Be it the Shah or the Leader [Khamenei]!”, “For each person killed there will be a thousand more following his/her path!”, and “Canons, tanks & guns are no longer effective!”
• Drivers have joined the nationwide strike. In a leaflet distributed today, they wrote:

“We, the drivers of heavy and semi-heavy trucks across the country, announce that we will not start our vehicles from October 27, 2022, in support of the nationwide strikes of the Iranian people.”

More details on Evin tragedy

Further details about the tragedy based on reports and statements by eyewitnesses who are ready to testify before international courts and authorities follow:

1. Thirty to 40 prisoners were killed during the attack on Evin Prison, by the IRGC Special Force guarding the Supreme Leader (NOPO). Their names and details are recorded in Evin Hospital. Most of those killed were from Ward 7.
2. The attack on the prisoners was planned in advance. Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s son, Mehdi, a prisoner in Evin who was on leave, was told not to return to the prison. Akbar Tabari, the deputy to then then-Judiciary Chief Sadegh Amoli Larijani, and Mohammad Ali Najafi, the former Minister and Mayor of Tehran, who are both prisoners in Evin, were transferred to Evin medical center before the attack for their safety.
3. The savage guards (NOPO) threw some prisoners down from the roof. They targeted the prisoners in the courtyard with live ammunition from the roof. One of the prisoners watching from behind a window was shot on the side.
4. NOPO attacked Ward 8, where political prisoners are kept with live ammunition and shotguns and fired tear gas to the point of suffocation. In the courtyard of Ward 8, blood was spilled like a slaughterhouse such that it could not be cleaned up until 24 hours later.
5. In Ward 8, some prisoners and informants were spying against the prisoners, cooperating with the suppressive forces, and guiding them. After shooting and firing tear gas, the special unit forces made the prisoners lie down on the prison yard and beat them to the point of death. The brutal beating continued until the morning. They extensively used stun guns to beat the prisoners.
6. The IRGC Colonel Mahmoudi, the commander of the prison protection unit, went beyond brutality, and even when the special unit told him not to hit the prisoners, he beat them on the head with a baton. His blows on the head of a political prisoner caused his eyes to bleed. Another ruthless criminal was a corrections officer by the name of Tavakoli.
7. They transferred 51 prisoners from Ward 8; a prisoner with five bullets in his body was also taken in the same condition. Some of the prisoners were taken to Gohardasht prison, but the location of the rest is unknown.
8. They fired tear gas inside the women’s Ward and, at the same time, locked the doors of the Ward so that female prisoners could not react to save themselves.
9. Had the people of Tehran not rushed towards Evin prison on Saturday night, many more prisoners would have been killed. Even now, a human disaster will occur if Evin remains locked up and no one visits the prison.