A Baluchi Sunni Muslim imprisoned since 2009 for alleged crimes committed by his brother, Mohammad Saber Malek Raeisi has been under torture for the past three months in Ardabil Prison, northwest Iran, reports indicate.
He has been transferred to Ardabil Prison’s quarantine section where psychologically ill prisoners are usually held.
An ethnic Baluchi from the port city of Chabahar in Sistan and Baluchistan Province, Mohammad Saber Malek Raeisi was arrested by the regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) back in 2009 when he was only 15 years old, upon returning to Iran after visiting his older brother in Pakistan.
Mohammad Saber’s older brother, Obeidulrahman Malek Raeisi, is wanted by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry for allegedly cooperating with the militant group, Jundallah.
Malek Raeisi was initially held in the Intelligence Ministry’s detention center in Chabahar and for another two years in the ministry’s detention center in Zahedan before being transferred to Ardabil Central Prison, thousands of kilometers away from his family.
He is serving a 17-year prison sentence for “acting against national security by collaborating with an armed group.”
His only contact with his family was through phone calls but prison authorities have deprived him of regular phone calls and meetings with his family.
Malek Raeisi went on hunger strik in December 2017 against the severe beatings he received in prison.
