Behrouz Javid Tehrani : Political prisoner discloses systematic torture and humiliation of prisoners in Gohardasht Prison

I am political prisoner Behrouz Javid Tehrani and I have spend more than 10 years in Gohardasht Prison, one of the most notorious prisoners under this regime.

I am jailed though I have committed no crime. In this time, aside from all the human rights violations that occurred when I was arrested, interrogated and unjustly tried, I have witnessed thousands of other human rights violations only in this prison.

I am witness to 10 years of crime, torture, injustice, execution, bureaucratic corruption, the death of ill prisoners from lack of treatment, suicide in prison and other incidents.

In the solitary cells in hall 2 in cellblock 1, prisoners are beaten with batons, logs and cables and in some cases with electric clubs by prison guards for revenge and not to carry out justice. In some cases the prisoners are beaten so severely that they urinate in themselves.

Last year, a young man died under these beatings. In these solitary cells, prisoners are shackled and left in that state for a few days in their cells and only when they are willing to use profane language and insults against themselves and their family are they unshackled.

In solitary cells in cellblock 2, being allowed to take a shower is considered a privilege and sometimes prisoners are not allowed to bathe for months. If the prisoner is not submissive, he will even be barred from using the restroom. There is no such thing as fresh air time in this block. Radio, TV, newspaper, telephone, visits, fresh air time and books are banned in these solitary cells.


Prisoner guards address prisoners with insulting remarks and use profane language. Being checked by a doctor is also considered a privilege and not everyone gets this chance.

I know of a prisoner infected with HIV in the solitary cells in cellblock 2 by the name of Daryoush Arjmand who has been detained in solitary for 2 and a half years. He has aids and it has been some time that the infirmary has cut off his antibiotics so he would die sooner.

He is not even given the ointment and rubbing alcohol that aids patients need for their wounds. Prison guards are even afraid to open his cell door to let him out to use the toilet and shower and no one even changes the light bulb in his cell which burned out long ago.

Our cellblock is under the management of Hassan Akharian. He is a drug addict and treats prisoners with violence most of the time. Any sort of protest to his erratic behavior is met with solitary in cellblock 2. He has recently taken out the security cameras in one of the rooms in prison turning it into a torture chamber.


Gohardasht Prison in Karaj is headed by Ali Haj Kazem. He is a corrupt person and receives bribes. He lets those who work under him carry out any crime and in 2005 there were more than 10 instances that I know of where he sold the body parts of prisoners without their consent. The prison infirmary cooperated completely with this issue. These prisoners would be mostly chosen from those whose death sentences were imminent. These prisoners whose body parts were sold without their consent include Afshin Karimi, Sharvin Goudarzi and Ahmad Hanani.


In this prison, being medically treated on time is also considered a privilege. They say that prisoners do not have the right to become sick more than once a month and go to the doctor. My close friend Amir Hossein Heshmat Saran passed away last year because he did not receive treatment on time.


Another problem in this prison is the lack of space in the cells. It is so overcrowded that all prisoners are extremely angry and annoyed and there are also limitations in using the bathrooms in the non-solitary sections of prison. A very few number of halls have beds (only 4 halls out of 24 halls have beds).

In the halls without beds, prisoners have trouble sleeping on the ground because of lack of space. This in itself is another form of torture in Gohardasht Prison in Karaj. In hall 1 and 3, cellblock 1, prisoners with psychological problems are kept with healthy prisoners and this issue both leads to the mistreatment of these mentally ill prisoners and the aggravation of healthy prisoners.


Honorable Ban Ki Mon, I do not want to write a long letter but just wanted to request from you on behalf of myself and all political and ordinary prisoners who do not have access to you to come and visit Gohardasht Prison (Rajayi Shahr Prison) in your visit to our beautiful country.

Without doubt it would be an honor for me, if you would allow it, to come along with you in your visit to prison as a guide to show you all the dark angles and torture chambers and all the human rights violations carried out in this prison. Obviously, your visit to Iran and especially this prison would better the atmosphere for the 3000 or so prisoners in Gohardasht Prison.

Political prisoner and human rights activist
Behrouz Javid Tehrani
Gohardasht Prison (Rajayi Shahr Prison) hall 1, cellblock 1