(Doc. No. 97)
Report submitted to Khomeini by a member Of the delegation appointed by Montazeri to investigate prison conditions
In the Name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful
His Exalted Eminence, the Great Commander of the Faithful and the Imam of the Ummah, Grand Ayatollah Imam Khomeini,
With greetings, my humble self, in the company of several personalities trusted by the Grand Ayatollah Montazeti, the exalted Deputy Leader, have visited the prisons and detention centers of the cities of Yazd, Shahr-e Babak,Sirjan, Bandar Abbas, Jiroft and Birjand.
The visit was carried out in accordance with instructions given by Grand Ayatollah Montazeri in order to observe the treatment of prisoners by the honorable officials and the prisoners’ food and other issues, and also listen to the prisoners.
We presented a brief report on our visit to Grand Ayatollah Montazeti and His Eminence wished that the report be brought to Your Eminence’s attention, even if Your Eminence is already aware of the situation. We emphasize that the prisoners were warned that they must not commit another crime by telling lies about the honorable officials, as this would necessitate further physical punishment for the prisoners.
We saw a number of Iranian and non-Iranian prisoners whose hair had been pulled out, their arms and legs broken, their toes and fingers smashed, their teeth broken. They had scars on their bodies. A woman from Mashhad said that she had been arrested during the month of Ramadan while she was pregnant and had been beaten so much that she suffered a miscarriage. Prisoners claimed that two of them had been beaten to death. Even a political prisoners in Bandar Abbas, Sirjan and elsewhere said that the scars on their bodies were caused by flogging with electric cables, kicking, burning the skin with lighters, being dragged by a car, being burnt with kerosene and petrol, etc. One prisoner said his genitals had been burnt with a piece of wood soaked in gasoil. Some claimed that they had medical certificates to prove their claims and some gave their names and particulars for follow-up of their cases.
Mahmoud Mohammadi Yazdi