In the week of Parliamentary elections, Iran’s authorities are preparing for more mass protests by opening up prison spaces.
Citing sources “with detailed knowledge”, the Center for Human Rights in Iran says many detainees have been transferred out of Tehran’s Evin Prison to be ready for sudden influxes.
One source said on February 12:
They started transferring the prisoners 10 days ago. At the moment, very few are left in wards 2, 8 and 7 — mostly political and “security” prisoners, as well as prisoners of conscience. Other wards have been shut down and locked.
The source explained that many of the thousands of detainees from mass demonstrations in November, over the Government’s sudden rise of 50% to 200% in petrol prices, “had to be released because there was not enough space to keep them”.
He/she continued, “That was a lesson for officials to prepare for the possibility of more and wider protests.”
At least 304 demonstrators were killed by security forces in several days of nationwide rallies in November, according to verified information from Amnesty International. Three Iranian Interior Ministry officials told Reuters that 1,500 people — protesters, security personnel, and bystanders — were slain.
See also Iran Daily, Dec 23: Supreme Leader — “Do Whatever It Takes to End The Protests”
A spokesman for Iran’s Parliament said about 7,000 people were detained. Iranian authorities have not issued an official statement, and have not said how many people remain behind bars.
There were also four days of protests across Iranian cities in January, after the military lied about its downing of a Ukraine jet. The 176 passengers and crew, including more than 100 Iranian citizens, all perished.
Expanding Evin
Sources also say Evin Prison, with its wards overseen by the Revolutionary Guards, is being modified.
Former political prisoner Saeed Malekpour wrote last week of the entire facility becoming “a high-security detention center modeled on wards 2-A and 209”, the areas controlled by the Guards and the Intelligence Ministry. He said walls are being extended, barbed and electric wire fences are being installed, and more security cameras are in place.
Malekpour, a computer programmer who served 11 years in Evin, said trees in common areas have been cut down and the exercise club has been closed.
Another source claimed the Guards have construction another secret detention center. Multiple sources spoke of Evin prisoners being transferred 20 miles away to Fashafouyeh Prison and its “terrible” conditions.
Scott,
Where does Mansoureh Mills state Amnesty spoke with ALL of the families of the alleged victims? All she states is that Amnesty *attempted* to do this.
Amnesty stated that it primarily received its information from journalists and activists: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/11/iran-more-than-100-protesters-believed-to-be-killed-as-top-officials-give-green-light-to-crush-protests/
“The organization obtained the information from reports whose credibility and reliability it has ascertained by interviewing journalists and human rights activists involved in gathering them. It has then crosschecked the information. ”
Amnesty has refused to publish a list of names or revealed its sources (Iranwire has done so which includes local media reports). They have also not updated a breakdown of the alleged fatalities since their first press release. As such, there is no way of confirming that their findings are accurate.
Amnesty spoke with “dozens of people inside Iran”. These are relatives and eyewitnesses. In addition, Amnesty has supporting information from journalists and activists and has verified killings through videos.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/12/iran-thousands-arbitrarily-detained-and-at-risk-of-torture-in-chilling-post-protest-crackdown/
There are no videos on social media that show anyone being killed. There are videos showing confrontations between the security forces and rioters. Amnesty is claiming hundreds were killed, not “dozens”.
[Edited by moderator to correct deliberate misinformation and distortion by commenter in his citation of Mills’ comment.]
EDIT: “Mansoureh Mills, another Amnesty Iran researcher who spoke to VOA Persian, said it has taken days to verify the deaths of individual protesters, making it likely that the actual number of those killed is significantly higher than what the group has been able to confirm so far.
‘We receive lots of information, sometimes from sources that we’re unfamiliar with,’ Mills said. ‘We try to contact family members if we can, but it’s really difficult to speak to them, because mobile networks in some regions have not come back online, and a lot of people are scared to talk to us.'”
https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/voa-news-iran/208-protesters-killed-irans-deadliest-violence-1988-says-rights-group
—
ORIGINAL COMMENT:
Amnesty has not provided a list of names or even a breakdown of the locations of the alleged deaths.
Iranwire, run by Maziar Bahari, has provided some names and photos: https://iranwire.com/en/features/6476
Interestingly, Iranwire mentions that the one person killed in Tehran – a woman of 50 – was not protesting at all.
So, we have confirmation that Amnesty likely did not speak to the families of the 304 alleged victims. We also have confirmation that they could not verify the authenticity of their sources of information. As such, there are serious grounds for doubting the tally they have presented.
Amnesty have no investigator on the ground within Iran and rely on external sources entirely for their information.
No, you have confirmation that Amnesty spoke with relatives of the 304 protesters whose killing by security forces were confirmed, as well as with sources inside Iran (not “external sources”).
The quote from Mansoureh Mills — which you deliberately distorted — says that, in other cases, Amnesty could not fully verify because it was not possible to contact family members.
Thus, “[It is] likely that the actual number of those killed is significantly higher than [the 304 killings] that the group has been able to confirm so far.”
Majid Ansari, who heads two reformist lists for Tehran sharing 20 out of 30 candidates between them, expects the reformists to become a large minority in the next Majlis capable of reaching a majority consensus on the issues with some principlists: https://www.mehrnews.com/news/4855082
Ansari, an ally of Khatami and Karroubi, admitted that in some constituencies there is no reformist candidate but they will be standing in most of them.
Meanwhile, conservatives/principlists have put up 9 electoral lists and there is fear in their ranks they may lose the elections by being so divided: https://twitter.com/fresh_sadegh/status/1229356220374507520
I should point out that there are 133 constituencies for 285 seats (5 additionally reserved for the religious minorities).
Reformists have anywhere between 160 and 210 candidates following the conclusion of the appeals process on Feb 11th. They will be standing in at least 100 constituencies. Technically, they could still win a majority but they would have to win pretty much every seat they are contesting.
[Edited by moderator to remove disinformation and repetition.]
The Interior Ministry has not released any figures for the casualty count. Rouhani yesterday said that the Forensic Science department will release the information next month.
Najmeh Bozorgmehr of the FT tweeted this back in December: https://twitter.com/Najmeh_Tehran/status/1209048377545166849
“How can journalists based outside Iran know how many were killed during last month’s unrest by calling a handful of unnamed sources? And in those protests women did not play a major role as they usually do in big cities. How could hundreds of women be killed? Simple questions”
[Edited by moderator to remove repetition of claims]
According to an Iranian journalist, Shahed Alavi, another “unnamed source” within the Interior Ministry put the death toll at 200 on Monday November 18th: https://twitter.com/ShahedAlavi/status/1196482986742599680
It is impossible to verify claims like this that don’t name sources or provide any evidence.
Iranian authorities have acknowledged that they “shot rioters” but denies all unofficial death tolls: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/shot-killed-protests-iran-admits-time-191203072043278.html