Some 300 female prisoners have been relocated to the Central Prison of Urmia from across West Azerbaijan Province.
The relocation has been carried out on the orders of the clerical regime’s Judiciary. The detainees include political prisoners as well as ordinary prisoners detained on common crimes. The relocation of some 300 female prisoners took place on October 23, 2020. The clerical regime has not yet explained the reasons for these relocations.
The Central Prison of Urmia is plagued with the coronavirus. In March 2020, Fatemeh Alizadeh, 53, lost her life after contracting the disease. Female prisoners held a hunger strike in protest of the death of their inmate.
The status quo in the Central Prison of Urmia
The Central Prison of Urmia is located on Tabriz-Urmia Road, 25 kilometers from the center of Urmia, the capital of West Azerbaijan Province in northwestern Iran.
There are 17 wards in this prison holding political prisoners, detainees convicted of national security charges and prisoners convicted of common crimes.
The women’s ward of the Central Prison of Urmia is a big hall which already housed 200 female inmates before this relocation. The hall is divided into 8 rooms by short walls.
There are 16 beds in every room where some 30 female prisoners are detained. That is almost half of the inhabitants in each room sleep on the floor and have no other place to rest.
There are 5 lavatories and toilets, and 3 bathrooms for 200 inmates. Most of the toilets are often out of order. There is usually no hot water for bathing and prisoners must take shower with cold water.
Mothers with children also stay in the same hall, and children are exposed to various GI and skin diseases, among others.
So, the clerical regime has transferred the 300 female prisoners to an already overcrowded, unsanitary space. They seek to kill the prisoners and their political opponents by exposing them to the coronavirus.
The Iranian Resistance has repeatedly urged international authorities, including the United Nations to take urgent action for immediate release of political prisoners, and especially female political prisoners in Iran.
Punishment of female detainees in the Prison of Kermanshah
After the attack on female detainees in Kermanshah’s Correctional Center for Rehabilitation, the authorities in this prison imposed new restrictions on the inmates.
The family of one of the detainees said: “Following the news of protest by female detainees in the Prison of Kermanshah, the prison authorities have summoned a number of detainees over the past few days. They have threatened to send them to exile in remote locations. They have also deprived some prisoners from receiving their medications and from making phone calls as a means of punishment.”
