An Iranian hacktivist group called “the Justice of Ali” released CCTV footage from Iran’s Evin Prison showing guards beating and kicking inmates at a notorious prison for political detainees and foreigners.
One of the videos shows an older prisoner in a mask who passes out, falls to the ground, and is then dragged upstairs and taken into a ward, while others including a cleric pass by without objecting.
https://twitter.com/IranIntl/status/1429524913828900866?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1429534003590307841%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es3_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Firanintl.com%2Fen%2Firan%2Fhackers-release-security-footage-iranE28099s-evin-prison
The footage, from northern Tehran’s Evin Prison, was distributed to news outlets including the Associated Press, which first reported on the leaked video and said time stamps on the footage showed it was recorded in 2020 and this year.
The head of Iran’s prison system acknowledged on Tuesday (25 Aug) that the videos are real, stating he took responsibility for the “unacceptable behaviors.”
Iranian Prison Chief, Mohammad Mehdi Hajmohammadi wrote on Twitter that he vowed: “avoid the repeat of such bitter incidents as well as confront the perpetrators.”
https://twitter.com/Mmhajmohammadi/status/1430026191042490372
“I apologize to God Almighty, our dear leader [Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei], the nation, and honorable prison guards, whose efforts will not be ignored due to these mistakes,” Hajmohammadi said.
State television in Iran also reported Hajmohammadi’s remarks. An arm of state TV later said the country’s judiciary chief ordered an investigation into the abuse as well.
Hajmohammadi, however, offered no plan on how to address the abuses at Evin.
Another clip shows a man wearing a blue uniform being struck on the head repeatedly by one guard and then kicked by another.
The hacktivist groups claimed to have “hundreds” of gigabytes of data from a hack conducted several months ago, the Associated Press reported.
The prison, built-in 1971 during the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, soon gained notoriety for human rights abuses. Thousands of political prisoners were held “in horrifying conditions, tortured” and executed there by the shah’s secret police, Human Rights Watch wrote in a 2004 report.
