Jan 18, 2018

Balochi Teenager Becomes an Adult in Jail


Photo courtesy to: HRA News

Ardebil Prison is one of the prisons in Iran which punishes the prisoners in inhumane ways. Mohammad Saber Malek Raisi has been chained to the rods of the prison with bracelets and pendants. Mohammad was arrested in 2009 at the age of 15. He is currently 25 years old and is one of the youngest (political) prisoners in Iran. Security officials told the family that if their other son Abdul Rahman surrenders himself to security forces, Mohammad will be released. Abdul Rahman fled the country in 2009 fearing for his life after he refused to spy on Sunni scholars and Balochi tribes.Political prisoners, especially from minorities, are often sent to Southern Azerbaijan, in the north of Iran, making visites by their relatives almost impossible, considering long distance and travelling costs. In Iran this kind of imprisonment is called prison in exile.There are several other cases of Arab Activist who were sent to prison in exile.

 

The timeline below was published by HRA News

In late 2009, Mohammad Saber Malek Raisi, a 17-year-old Baluchi teenager, was arrested by the Iranian Intelligence Agency in Chabahar County in Balochistan, Iran. He was arrested and put in solitary confinement because his brother had fled Iran and refused to cooperate with the Ministry of Intelligence and with the National Security of the Islamic Republic of Iran.  While in prison, he has not been able to attend school and has fallen behind in his education. His family has also not been allowed to see him. The only way to contact his family was via telephone which was regularly denied access as a tool of punishment.

In 2011, the Revolutionary Court sentenced him to fifteen years in prison. The Iranian Intelligence Agency threatened the family with executing Mohammad if his brother did not return to Iran.

On 25 May 2012, he was severely beaten by the prison guard which led to a broken arm and nose.

On 31 July 2014, a prison guard encouraged other prisoners to beat him by saying to them that he was from the same people who they were fighting in Syria.

In 2017, Mohammad wrote an open letter to president of Iran "Hassan Rouhani" and explained his situation in the prison, but he did not receive any answer.

In 2017, his father "Molavi dad Rahman Sarbazi" wrote an open letter to the Supreme Leader of Iran "Ali Khamenei" and explain the situation of his son who was chained to the Iranian flag in the prison yard in the cold   weather of "Ardabil" with minus degrees from 8am until 10pm bear foot.

On 22 February 2017, while serving his sentence, "Mohammad" was beaten by the prison’s security force for going on a 20-day hunger strike. "Mohammad" went on a hunger strike to protest the inhuman conditions and tortures he has been enduring in the Ardabil Prison. His physical condition is very serious. They tied him to a flagpole in the prison yard, with handcuffs and shackles, in the cold weather, and despite being on hunger strike and having been beaten he was not transferred to the infirmary. after finishing his hunger strike he wrote two letters to Asma Jahangir titled "Nights that become morning by investigations with torture" and "From bed of torture called "Bed of Miracles" to death threaten".

On 16 March 2017, after being transferred to a specialized hospital for tests, he was returned to prison after the examinations. He recently ended his hunger strike and was interrogated because of writing letters to the UN Special Rapporteur.

On 4 December 2017, when he was still in hunger strike was severely was beaten and his right eye was severely injured, he wrote an open letter to the Special Rapporteur for human rights in Iran entitled "Before I was able to see the world with one eye".

On 12 December 2017, the political prisoners who - Maher Kabbi Ahwazi, Ali PizhGoul Balochi, and Noor Hassan Zahi Baluchi - wrote a letter to support his case and spoke out about his situation were denied access to telephones to limit the circulation of the information about him.

On 14 December 2017, on his 9th day of his hunger strike his mother wrote a letter to the "Zahedan intelligence administration" asking them to transfer his soon to another prison due to bad situation of her son.

On 26 December 2017, he wrote an open letter titled "What happened to me" and tried to explain who are behind illegal treatments in the prisons.   

On 29 December 2017, he went on hunger strike again in protest of his situation in prison. His demand was to allow him use a telephone to talk to his sick father, but in return he was beaten and transferred to solitary confinement. On his 29th day of his hunger strike, his hands and legs were chained.

He wrote a letter to Maulana Abdul Hameed Ismail Zahi and Maulana Abdul Rahman Molla Zahi and Maulana Fazlur Rahman Kohi, three renowned religious figures in Balochistan, asking for their support.

On 6 Jan 2018, he finished his hunger strike after 39 days , after losing more than 24 kilos of weight.