More than 2000 people gather outside Evin tonight

Human Rights Reporters

According to reports received from Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran, more than two thousand people, comprising of prisoners’ families, Mourning Mothers, and supporters have gathered outside Evin prison tonight. The crowd is asking for an end to executions.

*Photo from Archive

On Saturday January 30, 2010, a big crowd that included recently freed prisoners joined the families of prisoners to voice outrage at executions of two political prisoners and rumors of more hangings to follow. The demonstrators demanded not only an end to executions but also the unconditional release of all political prisoners. The crowd was so big that from the bottom of the hill to the main gate of Evin was packed with people.

By 9:00 pm, there were more than 2000 people gathered at the main gate of Evin prison. They plan to continue their demonstration there until midnight. The Mourning Mothers who usually gather every Saturday at Laleh Park decided to take their protest to the very gates of the notorious Evin prison. The prisoners among the crowd spoke of mistreatment in the prison and said they will not rest until those inside Evin walls are freed.

The families of prisoners were told that tonight twenty-three of the detained will be freed. At the time of the posting of this note a few have been released. One of the freed was a 23 year old woman. The woman expressed her thanks to the gathered crowd and knelt down and kissed the ground. This made the crowd cheer.

Many of those being released seemed upbeat and had wide smiles on their faces when leaving the morbid gates of Evin. Each released prisoner was met with cheers and ovation by the crowd. The prison guards were taken aback by the presence of so many and threatened to stop releasing prisoners if the crowd did not stop their cheering!

We will keep you updated on further developments.

Human Rights and Democracy Activist in Iran