A group of GhezelHesar prisoners wrote to Nada Al-Nashif. “Any report without visiting the prisons and also talking to credible prisoners will not be valid.”
According to the Human Rights Society of Iran, on Friday, February 2, 2024, on the eve of Nada Al-Nashif’s visit, some of the GhezelHesar prisoners, including some of the striking prisoners of the Black Tuesday, wrote to her: “Any report or conclusion regarding the execution of prisoners in Iran by you and also other United Nations officials and organizations, without visiting GhezelHesar prison and also having unrestricted and unfiltered conversations with live witnesses, will not be considered valid by the international community.”
Political prisoners at GhezelHesar prison referred to the widespread executions in Iranian prisons in their message and announced that they would go on a hunger strike every Tuesday in protest. They asked Nada Al-Nashif to “come to this prison on this trip and hear our observations and those of other prisoners closely about the details of the violations of our solidarity rights in the executions carried out in recent months and years.”
The complete message from the prisoners of the Black Tuesday prison of GhezelHesar is as follows:
“Ms. Nada Al-Nashif
Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations
Greetings
We have learned from behind the tall walls of GhezelHesar prison that you will have a two-day trip to Tehran to investigate human rights issues. Including the execution of prisoners. We felt it necessary to inform you that in many prisons in Iran, such as Urmia prison, Zahedan central prison. Also Ahvaz Sheiban prison. Shiraz Adelabad prison, and dozens of other prisons in our country, every week a number of citizens imprisoned with political and ideological charges, as well as non-political charges, without the right to a fair trial.”
Dear Ms. Al-Nashif,
We will go on a hunger strike every Tuesday
It is important for you to know that the political prisoners in GhezelHesar protesting against the inhumane process of executions. And the violation of the “right to life” of our fellow inmates. From last Tuesday until this unjust process stopped, we will go on a hunger strike every Tuesday. As Tuesday are the black days or the days of execution of our fellow inmates, it is the last day of their lives in solitary confinement, or the day when their lifeless bodies taken out of the prison, and also sometimes even their lifeless bodies not handed over to their families.
Considering that GhezelHesar prison is the main center for holding prisoners under death sentence and also the place where this inhumane punishment is carried out in Tehran, we invite you to visit this prison and hear firsthand our observations and those of other inmates about the details of the violation of the rights of executed inmates in recent months and years.
It is clear that any report or conclusion regarding execution in Iran by you and also other United Nations authorities. And institutions, without visiting GhezelHesar prison and having unrestricted and free conversations with live witnesses of fundamental human rights violations in this prison, will not be credible to the international public opinion.
Respectfully,
A group of hunger-striking prisoners of GhezelHesar prison
February 2, 2024
About Ms. Nada Al-Nashif
Ms. Nada Al-Nashif is from Jordan and is a public servant at the United Nations. From 2015 to 2019, she worked as the Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences at UNESCO. In January 2020, Ms. Al-Nashif appointed as the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights at the United Nations.
Nada Al-Nashif scheduled to travel to Iran on February 3, 2024, as Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights of United Nations. Her visit, coinciding with the increase in executions by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It has raised concerns and warnings from human rights organizations and activists in Iran.
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