Iranian political prisoner Mehtab urges world not to forget death row inmates amid war with US

Awaiting execution in one of Iran’s most notorious jails, Mehtab makes a simple - and urgent - plea to the outside world: do not let those on death row be forgotten in the smokescreen of war.

In messages smuggled out exclusively for The Independent, the political prisoner reveals the horrific conditions faced by those whose crime is to oppose the Iranian regime. Severe beatings, filthy conditions, scarce food and unbearable heat are all part of daily life, he says.

Mehtab, not his real name, highlights the dozens of Iranians who have been executed by the authorities since January’s uprising and the scores placed on death row during the ongoing war with the US - which, he says, Tehran has exploited to ramp up its repression of political opponents.

“You must not remain silent in the face of so many executions in Iran,” he begs. “Stop dealing with this fascist regime. Break your silence. Increase pressure on this regime to the maximum, and stand behind the Iranian people.”

Mehtab was arrested for being a member of opposition group the People’s Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI). For this story, identities have been protected to guarantee the safety of prisoners, their families, and the political dissidents involved in smuggling material out of the prisons, a highly risky act that could be punishable by death.

The conditions in prison, he explains, are horrendous. Hygiene is poor, with scabies widespread. There is no separation of political prisoners and other criminals, which he says is a means for Iranian authorities to torment political prisoners.

“The heat here is unbearable, with temperatures often exceeding 40 degrees Celsius,” he says. “The prison authorities turn the cooling systems in the wards down so much that, in effect, they simply blow hot desert air. Between the heat, the bedbugs, and the scabies, it is impossible to sleep or rest.”

The prison yard is “virtually unusable” due to intense sunlight and a total lack of shade, he says. Food quality is extremely poor, portions are so small that prisoners are permanently hungry, and there is no medical treatment for sick prisoners.

Mehtab says he was arrested for opposing Iranian executions and his public support for Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, of which PMOI is a part.

Rajavi, who has put forward a 10-point plan that supporters say would establish a progressive democracy in Iran, is one of multiple political opponents outside Iran jockeying to be at the helm if the regime collapses, including former Iranian crown prince Reza Pahlavi.

The Independent has not revealed which prison Mehtab is in, but it is understood that similar conditions prevail across the Iranian prison system.

Prison officials are even supplying drugs to prisoners through “secure corridors”, a lucrative source of personal income, he adds, declaring that the Iranian authorities “want to destroy us, the political prisoners”.

Rights organisation Iran Human Rights (IHR) says there have been 537 executions so far this year - and 10,980 since 2010.

Tehran has executed at least 56 people on national security charges since March, 27 of which were related to the January protests, the UN’s human rights chief says Volker Turk said in early August.

The PMOI says it has recorded at least 40 executions of political dissidents aged between 19 and 70 since March, while at least 100 more have been sentenced to death.

In the past week, another 11 people were placed on death row for participating in January uprising, which saw tens of thousands of Iranians swarm the streets in widespread protests against the regime.

The rebellion prompted a major crackdown, with death toll estimates ranging from 6,000 to more than 30,000.

Bahar Saba, senior Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW), says the executions of prisoners are “unlawful and arbitrary as they have followed proceedings that flagrantly violate basic fair-trial guarantees”.

“The international community cannot remain silent in the face of this escalating campaign of executions, which follows the massacres of protesters in January,” he adds.

“UN member states should condemn this relentless assault on the right to life in the strongest possible terms and take coordinated diplomatic action to press Iran's authorities to immediately halt all executions.”

With Donald Trump’s war on Iran looking set to drag on and on, after yet another flare up on Wednesday in the largest traded strikes for weeks, death row prisoners and their families fear an escalation brings them one step closer to being executed.

Launched on 28 February by the US and Israel, the conflict has resulted in thousands of deaths, the vast majority of which have been Iranian, including many civilians.

It has helped the Iranian regime “intensify repression and suffocation throughout the country”, says Mehtab.

“It is increasing pressure on prisoners inside the prisons. Anyone who protests is sent to solitary confinement and subjected to the harshest punishments.”

Both Trump and the Iranian leadership have shown little sign they are prepared to make any serious concessions which could help bring the war to a permanent end.

This week, Trump again called on the Iranian people to rise up, apparently unaware of the common belief that the war only intensifies the difficulties faced by resistance groups.

A source close to one of six Iranian dissidents executed in late March and early April, who spoke to The Independent under condition of anonymity, says the war has allowed the regime to carry out executions without fear of retribution, because everyone is “focussing on what’s happening in the sky”.

“Under the cover of war, they could easily perform the executions with less consequences, both internationally and domestically,” they add, describing the killings as an opportunity for the regime to show it is “still in power and still killing people”.

“I wish there was no war.”