The clerical regime in Iran has completely closed down Gohardasht Prison in Karaj (Rajai Shahrprison), infamous for being the site of a massacre and crimes against humanity that occurred in 1988, along with other criminal executions starting in the early 1980s until today.
on August 5 , the Mizan News Agency announced the decisions has been made during the visit of Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the head of the Judiciary, to Alborz Province on April 6, nearly half of the prisoners had been released by July 1, and all prisoners were transferred to Qezel-Hesar Prison
by August 5 and the Gohardasht Prison was closed.”
Gohardasht Prison, located north of Karaj city, serves as the central prison for Alborz province. This prison’s name is deeply associated with the 1988 massacre of political prisoners, during which many detainees from Gohardasht Prison, even those whose sentences had legally ended, were retried and subsequently executed.
During the trial of Hamid Noury, a former Gohardasht prison guard, in the Stockholm District Court in Sweden, details of the crimes against humanity were revealed by survivors and witnesses of that horrible massacre. These shocking revelations were officially recorded as legal and judicial evidence.
On August 3, a human rights organization reported that several political prisoners, including Saman Yasin, Saeed Masouri, Afshin Baymani, Hamzeh Savari-Lifti, Matlub Ahmadinejad, Loghman Aminpour, and Mohammad Shafi’i, had been transferred from Rajai Shahr Prison to Evin Prison.
The evacuation of Gohardasht Prison seems to have been conducted hastily, leaving the prisoners with no opportunity to gather their personal belongings and medications.
Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have consistently voiced concerns about the appalling conditions endured by detainees in Gohardasht Prison, particularly political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, and they have described it as an “inhumane” place.
