Twenty years in prison without a day leave; description of the situation of Saeed Masouri, a political prisoner in Rajai Shahr Prison
8-January-2021
Category: Prisoners
Breathing in Confinement: On January 8, 2021, Saeed Masouri, a political prisoner in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj, entered his 21st year of imprisonment throughout which, he had been denied his basic rights including the right to leave.
On the occasion of Saeed Masouri’s 21st year of imprisonment, Breathing in Confinement, the news organ of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, publishes a report on the situation of this political prisoner in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj.
Saeed Masouri was born in 1965. He was arrested on January 8, 2001 in Dezful. His family however, was remained unaware of his arrest till the month of May.
Twenty years have passed since the arrest of this political prisoner, while he is still denied the right to release and leave.
After his arrest in Dezful on January 8, 2001, Saeed Masouri was transferred to the city’s Intelligence Center. He was later transferred to solitary confinement in Ahvaz Prison, where he spent nearly a year, and later was transferred to Evin Prison in Tehran. After his arrest, Saeed was held in solitary confinement for 14 months and then was transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison.
Saeed, on charge of “Moharebeh through membership in the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization,” was initially sentenced to death by Branch 6 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, headed by Judge Haqqani. After several years however, his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment.
Saeed Masouri, without being granted even a day off, is spending his 21st year of imprisonment in Hall 10, Ward 4 of Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj. This hall, equipped with a large number of CCTV cameras, is under high security measures where political prisoners are permitted to contact their families for only ten minutes a week, on Sundays. As Saeed’s old parents are living in another city, they are unable to travel to Tehran for weekly visits. And therefore, they remain unaware of their son’s condition.
Before the execution of his cellmates, Zanyar and Loghman Moradi, Saeed Masouri, wrote a letter to human rights authorities as well as “thoughtful people,” asking them to take action to overturn the death sentences of the two innocent prisoners. He wrote: “Thoughtful people! Please help me! They might hear your voice. So please tell them to crush all my bones, but for goodness’ sake, leave our beloved ones alone. Tell them to cut my body in pieces, but do not make our children the vampire’s bait. For God’s sake tell them that they are innocent. Though I know that they are only looking for someone to sacrifice. But please tell them that whoever had experienced what they have gone through, just to get rid of the pressures and torture, would have confessed to all of the imaginable crimes on earth.”
Unfortunately however, in September 2018, Zanyar and Loghman Moradi were executed in Rajai Shahr Prison.
In addition, in his nineteenth year of imprisonment, Saeed Masouri sent out a letter from prison in which he had written: This time, I would like to write not a detailed description of the prison’s condition (which I have written about several times before), but to remind you of the philosophy and function of the prison, especially in the current situation. Also with an adaptation of Antonio Gramsci, I would like to emphasize that divulging and revealing what is going on in the prison (both to the prisoners and their family members) is not only a task (in my opinion), rather, a petition or indictment against the authoritarian system, in its entirety. Undoubtedly, the most entitled one for judgment is of course our people. And presently as well as in future, the history also is judging and will judge what is going on.”
During his twenty-one years in prison, Saeed Masouri has several times been interrogated by the Ministry of Intelligence under severe torture and pressure.