DUBAI: Iranian prosecutors opened criminal cases against six guards at the country’s notorious Evin Prison, the judiciary reported on Tuesday, after footage showing the widespread abuse of detainees at the facility leaked out last week.
The judiciary’s three-day investigation into mistreatment and grim conditions at Tehran’s Evin Prison had landed “some” prison guards in detention, said judiciary spokesman Zabihollah Khodaeian.
Authorities also summoned two guards and punished others, Khodaeian said, without elaborating on the penalties or identifying the suspects.
The revelation comes days after The Associated Press published parts of the videos and a report about the abuse at the facility in northern Tehran, long known for holding political prisoners and those with ties to the West whom Iran uses as bargaining chips.
An online account, purportedly by a self-described hacker group, shared footage of the incident, as well as parts of other surveillance video it seized.
“The scenes shown in the published films were against the law and it is not justifiable under any circumstances,” said Khodaeian, noting that the leaked clips had been selected and edited from different scenes over the course of years. In one part of the footage, a man smashes a bathroom mirror to try to cut open his arm.
Prisoners — and even guards — beat each other in scenes captured by surveillance cameras. Inmates sleeping in single rooms with bunk beds stacked three high against the walls, wrapping themselves in blankets to stay warm.
Since its construction in 1971, the prison has seen a series of abuses that continued into the Islamic Republic.
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After leaked videos, Iran opens cases against prison guards
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After leaked videos, Iran opens cases against prison guards
- Authorities also summoned two guards and punished others
US transfers thousands of Daesh detainees from Syria to Iraq
BAGHDAD: The United States Central Command said it has completed the transfer of more than 5,700 detained Daesh group suspects from Syria to Iraq.
The detainees from some 60 countries had for years been held in Syrian prisons run by Kurdish-led forces before the recapture of surrounding territory by Damascus prompted Washington to step in.
CENTCOM said it “completed a transfer mission following a nighttime flight from northeastern Syria to Iraq on Feb 12 to help ensure Daesh detainees remain secure in detention facilities.”
“The 23-day transfer mission began on Jan 21 and resulted in US forces successfully transporting more than 5,700 adult male Daesh fighters from detention facilities in Syria to Iraqi custody,” it added in a statement.
The US had previously announced it would transfer around 7,000 detainees.
Daesh swept across Syria and Iraq in 2014, committing massacres and forcing women and girls into sexual slavery.
Backed by US-led forces, Iraq proclaimed the defeat of Daesh in the country in 2017, and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) ultimately beat back the group in Syria two years later.
The SDF went on to jail thousands of suspected jihadists and detain tens of thousands of their relatives in camps.
- 61 countries -
Last month, Syrian troops drove Kurdish forces from swathes of northern Syria, sparking questions over the fate of the Daesh prisoners.
Lingering doubts about security pushed Washington to announce it would transfer them to Iraq to prevent “a breakout” that could threaten the region.
“We appreciate Iraq’s leadership and recognition that transferring the detainees is essential to regional security,” said head of CENTCOM Admiral Brad Cooper.
“Job well done to the entire Joint Force team who executed this exceptionally challenging mission on the ground and in the air,” he added.
Iraq’s National Center for International Judicial Cooperation (NCIJC) said 5,704 Daesh detainees of 61 nationalities have arrived in Iraq.
They include 3,543 Syrians, 467 Iraqis, and another 710 detainees from other Arab countries.
There are also more than 980 foreigners including those from Europe, Asia, Australia and the United States.
The NCIJC said Iraq’s judiciary will interrogate the detainees before taking legal action against them.
Many prisons in Iraq are already packed with Daesh suspects.
Iraqi courts have handed down hundreds of death sentences and life terms to those convicted of terrorism offenses, including foreign fighters.
Under Iraqi law, terrorism and murder offenses are punishable by death, and execution decrees must be signed by the president.
The detainees in Syria were transferred to Baghdad’s Al-Karkh prison, once a US Army detention center known as Camp Cropper, where former ruler Saddam Hussein was held before his execution.
To make space for the newcomers, authorities moved thousands of prisoners from the Karkh prison to other facilities, a lawyer and an inmate told AFP on condition of anonymity.
- Repatriation -
Iraq has issued calls for countries to repatriate their nationals among the Daesh detainees, though this appears unlikely.
For years, Syria’s Kurdish forces also called on foreign governments to take back their citizens, but this was done on a small scale limited to women and children held in detention camps.
Most foreign families have left northeast Syria’s Al-Hol camp, which holds relatives of Daesh fighters, since the departure of Kurdish forces who previously guarded it, humanitarian sources told AFP on Thursday.
Last month, the Syrian government took over the camp from Kurdish forces who ceded territory as Damascus extended its control across swathes of Syria’s northeast.
The detainees from some 60 countries had for years been held in Syrian prisons run by Kurdish-led forces before the recapture of surrounding territory by Damascus prompted Washington to step in.
CENTCOM said it “completed a transfer mission following a nighttime flight from northeastern Syria to Iraq on Feb 12 to help ensure Daesh detainees remain secure in detention facilities.”
“The 23-day transfer mission began on Jan 21 and resulted in US forces successfully transporting more than 5,700 adult male Daesh fighters from detention facilities in Syria to Iraqi custody,” it added in a statement.
The US had previously announced it would transfer around 7,000 detainees.
Daesh swept across Syria and Iraq in 2014, committing massacres and forcing women and girls into sexual slavery.
Backed by US-led forces, Iraq proclaimed the defeat of Daesh in the country in 2017, and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) ultimately beat back the group in Syria two years later.
The SDF went on to jail thousands of suspected jihadists and detain tens of thousands of their relatives in camps.
- 61 countries -
Last month, Syrian troops drove Kurdish forces from swathes of northern Syria, sparking questions over the fate of the Daesh prisoners.
Lingering doubts about security pushed Washington to announce it would transfer them to Iraq to prevent “a breakout” that could threaten the region.
“We appreciate Iraq’s leadership and recognition that transferring the detainees is essential to regional security,” said head of CENTCOM Admiral Brad Cooper.
“Job well done to the entire Joint Force team who executed this exceptionally challenging mission on the ground and in the air,” he added.
Iraq’s National Center for International Judicial Cooperation (NCIJC) said 5,704 Daesh detainees of 61 nationalities have arrived in Iraq.
They include 3,543 Syrians, 467 Iraqis, and another 710 detainees from other Arab countries.
There are also more than 980 foreigners including those from Europe, Asia, Australia and the United States.
The NCIJC said Iraq’s judiciary will interrogate the detainees before taking legal action against them.
Many prisons in Iraq are already packed with Daesh suspects.
Iraqi courts have handed down hundreds of death sentences and life terms to those convicted of terrorism offenses, including foreign fighters.
Under Iraqi law, terrorism and murder offenses are punishable by death, and execution decrees must be signed by the president.
The detainees in Syria were transferred to Baghdad’s Al-Karkh prison, once a US Army detention center known as Camp Cropper, where former ruler Saddam Hussein was held before his execution.
To make space for the newcomers, authorities moved thousands of prisoners from the Karkh prison to other facilities, a lawyer and an inmate told AFP on condition of anonymity.
- Repatriation -
Iraq has issued calls for countries to repatriate their nationals among the Daesh detainees, though this appears unlikely.
For years, Syria’s Kurdish forces also called on foreign governments to take back their citizens, but this was done on a small scale limited to women and children held in detention camps.
Most foreign families have left northeast Syria’s Al-Hol camp, which holds relatives of Daesh fighters, since the departure of Kurdish forces who previously guarded it, humanitarian sources told AFP on Thursday.
Last month, the Syrian government took over the camp from Kurdish forces who ceded territory as Damascus extended its control across swathes of Syria’s northeast.
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