Vahid Afkari Released from Solitary Confinement After 4.5 Years
Vahid Afkari, political prisoner and brother of Navid Afkari, the executed protester from the 2018 demonstrations, has been transferred to the general ward of Adelabad Prison in Shiraz after spending 1,679 days in solitary confinement.
On Sunday, April 13, 2025, Saeed Afkari, Vahid’s brother, shared this news on social media, stating that Vahid was able to make a phone call to their mother for the first time in four and a half years.
Background of the Afkari Case
Vahid Afkari was born on June 21, 1985. He was arrested along with his two brothers, Navid and Habib, in September 2018 by security forces in Shiraz. Their arrest was connected to a case the judiciary linked to the killing of a security guard from the Shiraz Water and Wastewater Company during the protests of August 2018.
In this case, Navid Afkari was the primary defendant and was sentenced to two death penalties on charges of “premeditated murder” and “waging war against the state (moharebeh).” However, reports and documentation published by human rights organizations indicated that Navid had been forced to confess under severe torture, and that his trial lacked the standards of a fair judicial process. Ultimately, Navid Afkari was executed at dawn on September 12, 2020, without a final visit with his family and without official prior notice. It has been reported that prior to the execution, he was severely beaten by prison guards, including a man identified as Khadem Hosseini.
Memories of Navid Afkari’s Final Days
In a deeply personal account, Habib Afkari later shared memories of the day his brother Navid was executed. He wrote:
“It’s incredibly difficult for me to talk about those days and what Vahid is going through. I don’t want to upset people—but after seeing the images from Syrian prisons and the public’s growing awareness, I decided to share a bit about Iranian prisons and what my brothers and I endured.”
On September 3, 2020, Navid was taken to solitary confinement. Before he left, he had told a friend to inform his brothers, but the prison had cut off all phone lines. At that time, the three brothers were held in separate sections of the prison.
Two days later, they somehow received word that Navid had been moved to solitary in preparation for execution. Habib and Vahid managed to get out of their wards and reach the area outside the solitary cells. They began protesting loudly. Navid later told them, “I couldn’t believe you actually came!”
Protesting in Prison: The Brothers’ Defiant Stand
They banged on the doors and shouted his name. “You know Navid is innocent!” they screamed. The prison guards attacked them. Vahid warned, “There are cameras here—don’t resist. They’ll just cut that part and use it against us.” But they were vastly outnumbered. About 20 armed guards beat them violently.
Habib recalls that Navid, upon hearing their voices, tore off his shirt, covered his body with shampoo to make it slippery, removed the surveillance camera, and even pulled the iron bed out of place in an attempt to break down the door. The guards rushed in, struck him on the head, and began beating him. The assault on all three brothers was so severe that even the guards were gasping for breath from exhaustion.
“They insulted us and the people who supported us,” Habib wrote. “It felt unbearably humiliating. Suddenly, I shouted: ‘My life for Iran!’ Then Vahid and Navid joined in, screaming the same.”
Eventually, most of the guards stopped, but Khadem Hosseini, the head of the prison guards, continued. They were ordered to strip completely, including their underwear. Then they were forced into bloodied, torn clothes, handcuffed, shackled, blindfolded, and told to move. The clothes were passed down from other prisoners who had been beaten or had harmed themselves. A guard grabbed each of them and led them down a set of 15 to 20 basement steps.
Enduring Solitary Confinement
Each was thrown into a solitary cell—about 3 by 4 meters in size—with only a thin rug. The floor and walls were stone, cold and unforgiving. At the back of the cell was a toilet and a shower, which was also their only source of drinking water. There was no light—so dark that you couldn’t see even two meters ahead. “Even God doesn’t get reception down here,” Vahid reportedly said.
A small 10 by 30 cm hatch at the bottom of the cell door would occasionally open for food to be slid in by masked guards—without a word. “They would only come in if you were dead.”
They would tear off a corner of the disposable food container to eat with, and the portions were so small that they were constantly hungry. The iron handcuffs and shackles felt like razor blades in the cold, and their bodies were covered in pain from the beatings. “The pain was so intense, we couldn’t even lie on our backs.”
… I can’t write more at the moment. It’s beyond what I can emotionally bear.
The Fate of the Afkari Brothers
In the same case, Habib Afkari was sentenced to three years in prison. After spending 18 months in solitary confinement and following the execution of his brother Navid, Habib was released on March 5, 2022.
However, Vahid Afkari remained in complete solitary confinement under extremely harsh conditions for more than four and a half years since his arrest.
Solitary Confinement as Psychological Torture
Long-term solitary confinement is recognized as a form of psychological torture and stands in violation of human rights principles, including Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is a signatory. Human rights organizations have repeatedly urged the Islamic Republic to end this practice and to treat political prisoners in accordance with fair trial standards and basic human dignity.
Following Vahid Afkari’s recent transfer to the general ward, concerns persist regarding his physical and mental health, as well as his legal status—especially since his trial, like that of his brother Navid, was marred by serious irregularities and his charges were based on confessions extracted under duress.
