Head of Iranian Prisons Accused of Covering Up Brutal Human Rights Violations . . . Iranian Government Promotes Him To Top Judicial Position
jonathanturley
While the government continues to arrest those who protest its policies, Iran has been faced with a novel form of protest by citizens who are shaving their heads in solidarity with prisoners being killed and brutalized in the nation’s prison complex. These include political detainees at the infamous Evin Prison who were shown on a recent video being beaten by Revolutionary Guards. At the center of the controversy is Gholam Hossein Esmaili, a true fanatic who went on television to deny all such allegations, say that his guards have been uniformly “polite” to detainees, and that the videotape is a conspiracy of the West to overthrow the government. While most countries would investigate him for possible criminal acts and certainly fire him for abuse, the Islamic Republic promoted him to head Tehran Province’s courts. That’s right, the mullahs felt that he was perfect to be put into the court system. In the meantime, the government shut down the Ebtekar Newspaper , which reported on aspects of the controversy. By the way, Evin Prison (left) under the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi held a reported 1,500 detainees. Under Iran’s Islamic government, it hold a reportedly 15,000. While it holds conventional prisoners, it holds so many dissident intellectuals and professors that it is now nicknamed “Evin University.”
The video showed an assault on Evin’s Ward 350 where political dissidents are held. It reportedly left 30 prisoners injured and 4 hospitalized. Esmaili has denied that there are any political prisoners in Iran. None.
The European Union has denounced Iran’s abuse of detainees, prisoners, and dissidents in a strongly worded resolution. That reportedly led to a truly signature response from one of Iran’s top leaders, Brig.-Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi, head of Iran’s Basij militia force: “The European Union is a good example of the Koran verse that says they’re worse than quadrupeds . . .Homosexuals [in Europe] have intercourse like animals. They have a surge in drug production, which they sell to their young people at a cheap price. Then in their resolution they say: ‘You don’t have the right to execute drug dealers, and release the homosexuals.’”
Statements like that demonstrate why people like Gholam Hossein Esmaili are actually considered the smart ones in the Iranian government. So now he will be able to show that in the Iranian courts all rage is blind in the Sharia system.
