Political women prisoners in Evin Prison are facing a new wave of organized repression, in addition to enduring the grinding, daily conditions of the ward detailed further in the text. Reports indicate that following the change in Evin Prison’s management—which has intensified overall pressure on political women prisoners—a clandestine plot is currently underway to exile and transfer these women to the notorious Qarchak Prison in Varamin, replacing them with women convicted of financial crimes.
Raid on the Political Women’s Ward and the Relocation Plot
On July 12, 2026 (21 Tir 1405), Evin Prison guards launched a sudden raid on the women’s ward (Ward 6), transferring approximately 50 prisoners convicted of financial crimes from various detention centers—including Qarchak Prison and several other cities—into the upper floor of this ward. Simultaneously, prisoners were informed that additional groups of general-crime convicts were en route to the facility.
This ward also holds women protesters detained during the nationwide uprisings of January 2026 (Dey 1404). This measure by prison authorities, which constitutes a flagrant violation of the “principle of separation of crimes,” was met with fierce resistance and protests from the uprising detainees. During the confrontation, prison guards engaged in physical altercations with the political women prisoners and violently transferred two of the protesters, Masoomeh (Mahsa) Noori and Masoomeh (Farah) Nassaji, to solitary confinement.
One of the most alarming aspects of this raid was the presence of two young children during the clashes. According to reliable reports, “Mahfar” and “Tasnim,” who reside in the ward alongside their mothers, suffered severe psychological trauma and terror due to the brutal incursion of the guard forces and the escalating tensions.
According to obtained information, the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic intends to dedicate this ward entirely to female financial convicts and exile the political women prisoners to the notorious Qarchak Prison in Varamin—a threat that guard officers explicitly shouted at the political prisoners during the July 12 clashes. Currently, approximately 60 women detained during recent protests are already being held under inhumane conditions, deprived of proper medical facilities, in a confined space subjected to the suffocating summer heat at Qarchak Prison. If this relocation plot materializes, the connection of Evin’s political women prisoners with the outside world will be completely severed, pushing psychological and physical abuses into a far more dangerous phase.
Concerns Over the Fate of Women Sentenced to Death
During the raid and amidst the threats, the potential transfer of women prisoners sentenced to death was also raised. Some prisoners were told that those facing death row might be moved to an isolated location referred to as the “Suites.” According to available information, the names of Pakhshan Azizi, Varisha Moradi, Arghavan Fallahi, Bita Hemmati, and Maryam Hadavand have been prominently raised in connection with these capital sentences, raising grave concerns over their immediate fate.
Conditions of the Ward Prior to the Raid: Silent Torture and Daily Deprivations
- Communication Blackout and Isolation
Following the management change, four political women prisoners remain strictly deprived of their right to telephone contact with their families. These prisoners are Shiva Esmaili, Marzieh Farsi, Forough Taghipour, and Zahra Safaei. The phone cards of these political prisoners—all supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK)—were revoked by prison authorities as a punitive measure for their participation in the “No to Execution Tuesdays” protest campaigns. Families emphasize that this communication blackout inflicts double psychological torture on the prisoners and their relatives, severely heightening anxieties regarding the physical and mental well-being of these four individuals.
- Medical Deprivation as a Tool of Torture
Denying access to specialized medical care has become one of the most ruthless instruments of silent torture utilized in the Evin women’s ward:
- Shiva Esmaili: Continues to suffer from severe back pain; despite an urgent need for specialized external medical care, deliberate obstruction by prison officials has blocked her treatment.
- Elaheh Fouladi: Faces acute and severe complications in her pelvic and lumbar regions, yet no effective medical services have been provided to her.
- Aida Najafloo: This Christian convert imprisoned in Evin is grappling with severe trauma and a fracture in her T12 vertebra, but security and judicial apparatuses have banned her from hospital transfers and specialized care.
- Another Christian Convert (Identity Unverified): Another Christian convert in the ward sustained a hairline fracture in her foot approximately a month ago; despite the injury and persistent pain, she has been denied deployment to a hospital.
- Dietary Rations and the Nutrition Crisis
The quality of food prepared in the prison kitchen is so abysmal that it has repeatedly caused severe gastrointestinal illnesses among the female inmates. Previously, authorities provided a small ration of raw ingredients to the ward, allowing prisoners to cook for themselves; however, this ration has now been entirely terminated. To avoid severe gastrointestinal complications, several political prisoners have restricted their daily intake strictly to bread and yogurt.
- Economic Exploitation in the Ward Commissary
The elimination of raw rations has left prisoners completely dependent on purchasing from the prison commissary that sells low-quality consumer goods and food items at prices vastly higher than the open market, imposing a double financial and livelihood burden on the inmates and their families.
Management Change: Accelerating the Machinery of Repression
Mohammad Haji-Mazdarani, who was appointed as the new head of Evin Prison in November/December 2025 (Azar 1404), replacing Hedayatollah Farzadi, previously managed the Greater Tehran Penitentiary (Fashafouyeh). His administrative record is riddled with gross violations of prisoner rights. Following his arrival at Evin, all routine ward activities have been made conditional upon exhaustive bureaucratic procedures and multiple security clearances, uniquely designed to induce physical and psychological attrition among the prisoners.
The Urgent Need for Concrete International Action
The critical situation in the women’s ward of Evin Prison goes beyond the violation of domestic regulations; it constitutes a definitive case of systematic torture, short-term enforced disappearance, and a flagrant breach of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). To halt the machinery of repression currently accelerating against political women prisoners in Evin, the following practical measures must be implemented immediately and without delay:
- Deployment of an International Fact-Finding Mission: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran must exert immediate diplomatic pressure to deploy an independent mission for unannounced inspections of Ward 6 at Evin Prison to assess the health and safety of political women prisoners.
- Holding Perpetrators Accountable: The name of Mohammad Haji-Mazdarani (the new head of Evin Prison), due to his track record of managing notorious detention centers like Fashafouyeh and his direct role in the July 12, 2026 raid, communication blackouts, and medical deprivations, needs to be immediately placed on the human rights sanction lists of the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
- Halting the Qarchak Exile Project: It is urgent that human rights defenders and international women’s rights organizations utilize political leverage to raise the cost for the Islamic Republic’s judiciary regarding its violation of the “principle of separation of crimes” and the plot to exile political women prisoners to Qarchak Prison.
- Ending Punitive Measures and Demanding Return to the General Ward: Human rights organizations must demand an immediate end to the solitary confinement of Masoomeh (Mahsa) Noori and Masoomeh (Farah) Nassaji and their unconditional return to the general ward.
- Mandatory Specialized Treatment and Reconnection of Communications: It is essential that International medical bodies and Amnesty International launch targeted legal campaigns demanding emergency access to specialized external hospitals for ailing prisoners—specifically Aida Najafloo (with a T12 spinal fracture), Shiva Esmaili, Elaheh Fouladi, and the unnamed Christian convert with a fractured foot—as well as the immediate lifting of the telephone ban on the four restricted prisoners as a vital humanitarian necessity.
