Sunday, April 10, 2011
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has released a statement saying that Islamic Republic officials at the Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad have ordered a secret mass execution. ICHR Iran has requested that the condition of 13,000 prisoners in Vakilabad and other prisons throughout Iran be investigated by a UN representative and an executive commissariat of the Human Rights Council, noting that last year 300 people were secretly executed at this prison, and adding that the Islamic Republic’s judicial authorities approved 60 secret executions.
Pertaining to this prison’s condition, this statement also mentioned a letter which Hashem Khastar sent to Sadeq Amoli Larijani, Head of the Judiciary. Hashem Khastar, the Teacher’s representative of the Khorasan Cultural Trade Guild Society, in this letter compared the situation at the Vakilabad Prison to “Hitler’s death camps”, saying that on August 10 2010 alone, 63 inmates were executed at this prison.
He writes in this letter, “According to active supervisors, this prison was built for 2,500 prisoners, while supervisors themselves claim that there are about 13,000 prisoners. This year compared to last year 4,500 prisoners were added.” According to Hashem Khastar, the Vakilabad is full of “hashish and other paraphernalia” and Section 4 “is so crowded that prisoners sleep on the stairs and in front of the toilets”.
The ICHR Iran requested the Islamic Republic’s Judiciary Council “…conduct independent investigations into the deplorable conditions at the Vakilabad Prison and other prisons in Iran, and quickly take steps to correct the critical state of prisons in Iran.”