The Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary ( fa, زندان مرکزی تهران بزرگ) is a prison approximately 32 km (20 mi) south of
Tehran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...
. Sometimes called Tehran Central Prison, it is a large prison, also known as ''"فشافویه "'', ''"Fashafuyeh"'' or ''"Hasanabad-e Qom Prison"''. It was built in 2012 in the
Hasanabad region south of Tehran, in the deserts of the Tehran to Qom highway.
Several thousand prisoners have been or are being transferred to the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary from
Evin,
Gohardasht
Gohardasht ( fa, گوهردشت), is a neighborhood of Karaj, in Alborz Province of Iran, located on the north side of Karaj.
It is known for the Gohardasht Prison
Gohardasht Prison ( fa, زندان گوهردشت) is a prison in Gohardasht, ...
(Rajai Shahr) and
Ghezel Hessar prisons.
With an ''official'' capacity of 15,000 inmates, the prison is the largest detention facility in the country.
Prison conditions
In June 2019, a detainee reported that hundreds of juvenile prisoners under the age of 18 were being housed in the prison, many undocumented. Sexual exploitation of juvenile detainees is allegedly rampant in the prison. The firsthand account also states these minors were regularly abused and deprived of visitation rights.
In June 2016, the ''Ghanoon'' newspaper was sued for describing widespread corruption and ill treatment of inmates at the penitentiary, as well as reporting on the prison's poor living conditions and ill treatment of detainees.
In August 2017, a detainee described torture and inhumane conditions, including overcrowding, unsanitary living spaces, intolerable heat with severely limited water resources and the denial of medical care.
A cemetery for executed prisoners is also located near the prison grounds.( fa, قبرستان زندانیان اعدامی).
Authorities at the prison reportedly lock up inmates in cells without running water from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. According to reports, prison guards sell bottles of mineral water at a price of 10 thousand tomans (about 2.30 dollars) to prisoners.
Inmates have reported that there are no toilet facilities available. The toilet is a hole on the floor of a 2x2 foot area without light or running water, separated by a curtain from the ward's beds. The living conditions are so inhumane that quarantined inmates refer to the prison as the “place of exile”.
See also
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List of prisons # Iran
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Human rights in Iran # Notable prisons
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Judicial system of Iran #Prison system
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Kasra Nouri
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Nasser Fahimi
Nasser Fahimi ( fa, ناصر فهیمی) is an Iranian physician, human rights defender and a political prisoner of conscience. He is also the first figure in the political history of Iran who formally requested the Islamic Republic to revoke his ...
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Alireza Shir Mohammad Ali
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2018 Dervish protests
The 2018 Dervish protests, which occurred in February and March 2018 in Tehran, led to clashes between security forces, and Dervishes, an Iranian Sufi group ( Gonabadi Dervishes), protesting against the government, resulting in the bloody repressi ...
References
{{Reflist
Prisons in Iran
Human rights abuses in Iran
Buildings and structures in Tehran Province