Efforts to Transfer Five Death Row Political Prisoners to Ghezel Hesar Prison Spark Concern from UN Special Rapporteur and Amnesty International
17-April-2025
Category: Uncategorized
17 April 2025
News Category: Uncategorized
Breathing in Confinement – On Wednesday, 16 April 2025, special forces officers stormed Ward 4 of Evin Prison in an attempt to transfer five political prisoners sentenced to death from Evin to Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj.
According to Breathing in Confinement, the news outlet of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, on Wednesday, 16 April 2025, following the attempt by special forces to transfer five political prisoners — Pouya Ghobadi, Vahid Bani Amarian, Seyed Mohammad Taghavi Sangdehi, Babak Alipour, and Ali Akbar Daneshvarkar — to Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran and Amnesty International expressed concern.
Yesterday, in their attempt to transfer the five political prisoners, special forces surrounded Ward 4 of Evin Prison, cut off the prisoners’ phone lines, and locked the halls for two hours before storming the ward. Prison authorities stated that Judge Iman Afshari had issued the order for this transfer. Given that Ghezel Hesar is a primary site for carrying out executions, concerns over the possible execution of these prisoners have intensified.
In this regard, Dr. Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, wrote on her X account in protest against this move by the Iranian authorities:
“I’ve received alarming reports about the forced transfer of five death row political prisoners from Ward 4 of Evin Prison to Ghezel Hesar Prison.”
Additionally, today, Amnesty International issued a statement expressing concern over the attempted transfer of these five prisoners. The statement reads:
“Amnesty International is alarmed by Iranian authorities’ efforts to transfer five prisoners — Vahid Bani Amarian, Mohammad Taghavi Sangdehi, Babak Alipour, Pouya Ghobadi, and Akbar (Shahrokh) Daneshvarkar — from Evin Prison to Ghezel Hesar, a site where executions are carried out. Amnesty fears that these five men could be moved at any time following a judicial order for their transfer. The men were sentenced to death by a Revolutionary Court following an extremely unfair trial tainted by allegations of torture to extract forced ‘confessions.’ Iranian authorities must immediately halt any plans to execute Vahid Bani Amarian, Mohammad Taghavi Sangdehi, Babak Alipour, Pouya Ghobadi, and Akbar (Shahrokh) Daneshvarkar, and annul their convictions and death sentences.”