Iranian prisons dungeons of dark ages

Women and young men in imminent danger in the prisons of the Iranian regime.
Rouhi Shafii
Since the election-coup on 12 June 2009, thousands of people have been kidnapped, detained and arrested in various locations by variuos layers of security forces who are not accountable to anyone. Among them the situation of young men and women is significantly dangerous. Cases of rape of young men has repeatedly been reported. A few who were released have spoken of being gang-raped and tortured for days. Whether these men would ever be able to lead a normal life is in seriuos doubt. Worse than that is the situation of women. When a group of thugs enters a house and take the wife away in an unknown car, no one can imagine the agony of her husband and her family( Somaieh Towhidlou, 28 July, 3 am). Even if a woman gets to prison unharmed, she is prone to all types of dangers as no law governs the Iranian prisons regarding the human rights of the prisoners. We are deeply concerned about women prisoners as they are kept in solitary for days even weeks with no access to lawyer or contact with their families. Even if in these situations they are abused, in a society which stigmatises women they would not be able to talk about it. The case of a young woman, Taraneh Mousavi whose family refused to disclose the details of her tragic death is an example. Apart from immidiate danger, there are women who have been kept without charge or trial; Shiva Nazar-Ahari, Mahsa Amrabadi (who is pregnant), Zahra Towhidi, Sowgand Alikhah, Marjan Fiazi, Djila Baniyakoob, Maryam Zolfaghari, Hengameh Shahidi, Sara Mahboobi, Eleheh Imanian are among the many who are kept in Evin prison without access to a lawyer.

Among women, Shadi Sadr a prominent lawyer was lucky to be released after 11 days with a heavy endownment. Shadi was kidnapped in braod daylight and in front of many spectators. She was beaten up while her Islamic dress was ripped off and her scarf taken away. She was taken away in a van which sped off to the unknown. In the recent months prior to elections and in the opposition to the election-coup Iranian women have fought alongside men and have proved to be on equal footage with them. Consequently, they have not been spared the beatings, assualt and imprisonment. When these dark days come to an end, no one can claim that women were in any way behind men. It is enough one listens to the night chantings on the rooftops of Tehran to hear the loud female voices chanting 'death to the dictator'. It is enough one looks at the photos taken from the streets of big cities to see women at the forefront of demonstrations and rallies. It is time we say once and for all that Iranian women have proved to be equal with men in all fronts in all situations at all times. End