Security forces attacked a number of civil activists and family members of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.
These individuals rallied outside Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison at New Year’s to begin the new Iranian calendar year with their loved ones. However, a number of these individuals, including the father of political prisoner Atena Farghadani, artist and child rights activist, and civil activist Farhad Meithami, were attacked and beaten.
According to an eyewitness 15 plainclothes agents prevented the family members from entering the vicinity and intended to disperse the crowd. One of the agents attacked the family members and slapped Farghadani’s father in the face, then began literally punching and kicking a young man by the name of Farhad Meithami.
Amongst the protesters were Akram Neghabi, mother of Kurdish political prisoner Saeed Zeinali; Ma’soume Dehghan, wife of imprisoned lawyer Abdulfattah Soltani; and Mohammad Malaki, the first Tehran University dean following the 1979 revolution.

(March 21, 2016)