No news is available on political prisoner Soheil Arabi, nearly one month after he was transferred from the Great Tehran Penitentiary to Rajaishahr Prison in Karaj.
Political prisoner Soheil Arabi was reportedly transferred out of GTP in late September and taken to Rajaishahr Prison where he is being detained in the so-called “suites” which is the regime’s euphemism for solitary confinement. After about a month, there has been no news of this prisoner. Other inmates in Rajaishahr have not seen him, either.
Ms. Farangis Mazloum, Soheil Arabi’s mother, had previously revealed that the reason for the transfer of her son to Rajaishahr was his publishing of an audio file about the horrible conditions in GTP.
The transfer took place on the order of Amin Vaziri, the assistant prosecutor overseeing political prisoners in Iranian jail. Amin Vaziri, however, has denied responsibility. He told Soheil Arabi’s family that the order for solitary confinement had been issued by Seyed Heshmatollah Hayat Algheib, the general director of prisons in Tehran Province
Political prisoner Soheil Arabi has been deprived of his basic rights since being transferred to Rajaishahr, including his clothing and his right to have contacts and visits with his family.
In September 2020, Soheil Arabi sent an audio file out of the Great Tehran Penitentiary, divulging facts about the inhuman conditions in this prison. He said: “This is the worst torture chamber in the Middle East.”
On September 20, his mother, Farangis Mazloum referred to the Prosecutor’s Office of Evin Prison looking for her son. They told her that he had been transferred to Rajaishahr Prison in Karaj.
Soheil Arabi called his mother on September 18, 2020, and told her that he had been questioned by the GTP warden about the audio file he had sent out of prison. The GTP warden had warned him: “I will send you to a prison which is worse than here, and I have the permission for it.”
Political prisoner Soheil Arabi responded: “Wherever you send me, no place is worse than here. I have no problem. I will continue to do my work and I will do more revelations. As long as all political prisoners are not released, I will continue to make revelations.”
One month after the transfer of Soheil Arabi, Iran Human Rights Monitor is concerned about his fate, and considers him a victim of enforced disappearances in Iran. Iran HRM draws the attention of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur for human rights in Iran, and the Rapporteur on Enforced Disappearances to take urgent action to save the life political prisoner Soheil Arabi.
