The Planned Transfer of Political Prisoners to Qarchak Prison Is Another Crime in Iran’s Judicial Record

Nezam Mir Mohammadi, Iranian writer and legal expert, stated that the assault on the women’s ward in Tehran’s Evin Prison and the reported plan to transfer political prisoners to Qarchak Prison in Varamin cannot be viewed as ordinary prison administration. Rather, it is part of a systematic policy designed to isolate political prisoners, intensify psychological pressure, and punish women whose only “crime” is demanding freedom and justice.

He said that reports from Evin Prison indicate the use of force against female prisoners, solitary confinement, physical abuse, and the deliberate mixing of political detainees with inmates convicted of ordinary financial offenses. Such practices violate internationally recognized standards governing the treatment of prisoners and demonstrate once again that Iran’s judiciary functions as an extension of the country’s security apparatus rather than an independent institution committed to justice.

Mohammadi emphasized that Qarchak Prison has long been condemned by international human rights organizations because of its overcrowded conditions, inadequate medical care, poor sanitation, and inhumane treatment of detainees. Transferring political prisoners to such a facility amounts to an additional punishment that is not imposed by any court ruling and constitutes cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment under international human rights law.

He added that targeting women imprisoned for their political beliefs or participation in protests reflects the authorities’ fear that resistance continues even behind prison walls. By separating political prisoners from one another and cutting them off from their families, lawyers, and the outside world, the authorities seek to break their morale rather than enforce the law.

Mohammadi stressed that those responsible for ordering or carrying out these abuses should be held individually accountable in the future under international legal mechanisms addressing arbitrary detention, torture, and other serious human rights violations. Such crimes, he noted, cannot be erased through the passage of time.

He concluded by calling on the United Nations, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, and the International Committee of the Red Cross to take urgent action to prevent the forced transfer of political prisoners, demand unrestricted access to Evin and Qarchak prisons, and ensure international monitoring of the conditions of detained women. He warned that continued international silence would only encourage further repression and deepen the culture of impunity.