Books Banned, Drugs Allowed

While Tehran’s prosecutor refuses to provide any explanation about threatening reports of explosions in the Evin Prison, other reports indicating the distribution of drugs in Ward 350 of the Evin Prison has further worried the families and the public.

Meanwhile, reports point to the critical conditions of Amir Hossein Kazemi, a member of the nationalist Liberation Front, and journalist Masoud Bastani. On Friday, Zahra Rahnavard visited Narges Mohammadi, who has been at the hospital since her release from prison. Rahnavar said, “The occurrence of tragedies like this in prisoners of a country where officials claim to be just is shameful.”

While books are banned at the Evin Prison, and families of journalists and political prisoners cannot bring books for their loved ones in capture, drugs are easily distributed in Ward 350 of the Evin Prison, where most journalists and political prisoners are held captive.

According to the website kalame, drug distribution in Ward 350 has worried many families, who suspect that other motives are involved. The families wonder how drugs are distributed so easily around the ward while books are strictly banned, and even the ward’s library and small recreational area are closed.

While drugs are exchanged in higher prices outside prison, they are cheap inside prison.

The families of political prisoners wrote a letter to Tehran’s prosecutor asking him to investigate the sound of explosions that were heard in the Evin Prison area, following which prisoners saw flames blazing near the walls of the prison.

Tehran’s prosecutor, however, has refused to comment on the matter.

Reports also point to the critical conditions of Amir Hossein Kazemi, a member of the nationalist Liberation Front, and journalist Masoud Bastani.

In a letter to Tehran’s prosecutor, Amir Hossein Kazemi’s wife has blasted the prison officials’ ignorance of her husband’s condition.

She wrote, “My husband has been suffering from severe tooth pain for the past 15 nights. Experts say that he must be transferred out of the prison for surgery, but prison officials say that they cannot do that. Instead they give him the pain reliever gelofen day and night.”

Amir Hossein Kazemi has been in prison since last winter and was recently sentenced to imprisonment for three years after a 10-minute trial.

Other reports point to Masoud Bastani’s critical condition: “Masoud Bastani’s tooth and jaw ailments have reached a critical condition. He cannot open his mouth and hasn’t slept in the past few night because of the pain.”

During the past year, Masoud Bastani and his family have been put under extreme pressure by the intelligence ministry.

Masoud Bastani turned himself in voluntarily last year after his wife, Mahsa Amrabadi, was arrested. He was sentenced to imprisonment and deprivation of citizenship rights for five years.