Iran’s “Torture Factory” prison in Tehran sanctioned by US Treasury Department
This is not the first time that the United States Treasury Department impose sanctions against Evin Prison, located in Northern Tehran, Iran. The latest action can be considered as part of the American punitive policy towards the Iranian leadership.
Last February, International Christian Concern (ICC) requested that the United States Treasury Department issue Global Magnitsky sanctions against Iran’s Evin Prison, an entity with a known human rights abuse record. Details contained in the report involve cases documented between 2016 and 2018.
Iran is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenants on Human Rights. These documents affirm that religious freedom is a key component of human rights and Iran’s constitution verifies that Christians are a protected religious minority. However, the public practice of Christianity is severely restricted and Muslims who convert to Christianity (Muslim-background believers, or MBBs) are not recognized as legitimate Christians, according to ICC.
The actions committed at Evin Prison constitute a serious violation of human rights. The prison has systematically subjected prisoners, including numerous Christians, to assault, intense interrogation methods, medical abuse, and various forms of torture. The cases described below reflect this historical and systematic abuse of prisoners at Evin Prison and the violation of their human rights, the report says.
According to Wall Street Journal, in May 2018, the Treasury Department sanctioned targets included Ansar-e Hezbollah, a conservative organization linked to the government, and
Evin Prison, where Tehran detains political prisoners.
The U.S. says Evin Prison is controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite military organization, and there have been documented accounts of torture and other human rights abuses at the facility for decades, including by Amnesty International.
Of the arrested Christians analyzed by International Christian Concern where the prison is known, 60% of the arrested Christians have served time in Evin Prison. These Christians report a routine denial of medical care, intense interrogations, and inhumane living conditions. More generally, inmates incarcerated at Evin Prison are subjected to the regime’s most brutal treatment, including assault, electric shock, and medical abuse.
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See full report here.
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