A number of political prisoners who have been transferred to Ardabil’s Central Prison wrote a letter to Ms. Asma Jahangir, the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran Human Rights, to urge inquiry into the situation of their young cellmate, Mohammad Saber Maleki Reiesi.
The signatories of this letter are political prisoners Maher Kabi, Shir-Ahmad Shirani, Ali Pajgol and Nour-Ahmad Hassanzehi. This letter reads in part:
“We the signatories of this letter are four detained political prisoners in Ardabil Prison. Our only crime is being Sunni and Baluchi. We could not remain silent while our people were oppressed and because of this, we have been tortured and detained for years.
Ms. Jahangir,
The reason we are writing this letter is not to describe our own suffering, but rather the condition of our cellmate and friend, Saber Maleki Reiesi. He was in fact a child when arrested. He was arrested at the age of 17 and as written in his letters, was taken as a ‘hostage’ because the security apparatus did not have access to his brother, who was an activist. After two years of solitary confinement and torture, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison…
Saber Maleki went on hunger strike after he was severely beaten on November 29 by prison authorities. Prison authorities tied him, tortured and beat him to the extent that he is now complaining about heart problems… Saber Maleki Raysi’s life is in danger. Thus, we ask you to put pressure on the government to end the harassment of political prisoners, especially ethnic and religious minorities.
We and our friend Saber have committed no other crime than being Baluchi and Sunni.
Exiled political prisoners in Ardabil Prison
Maher Kabi, Shir-Ahmad Shirani, Ali Pezhgol, Nour-Ahmad Hassanzehi
Dec. 21, 2017
