Gohardasht Prison ( fa, زندان گوهردشت) is a prison in Gohardasht, a town in the northern outskirt of

Karaj Karaj ( fa, کرج, ) is the capital of Alborz Province, Iran, and effectively a satellite city of Tehran. Although the county hosts a population around 1.97 million, as recorded in the 2016 census, most of the county is rugged mountain. The urb ...

, approximately 20 km (12 miles) west 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 spelled Gohar Dasht Prison, it is also known as ''"Rajai Shahr"'', ''Rajaishahr'', ''Raja’i Shahr'', ''Reja’i Shahr'', ''Rajayi Shahr'', ''Rajaee Shahr'', ''Rajaei Shahr'' or ''"Rajaï Shahr Prison"'', etc. and sometimes as Karadj or Karaj prison (but Qezel Hesar prison is also near Karaj). In

Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets ( Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and rou ...

it is listed as "Rajai-Shahr Prison, Karaj, Tehran, Iran". Political prisoners and prisoners of conscience tend to be sent to Ward 12 of Rajai Shahr. Rajai Shahr is regarded as one of Iran's harshest prisons because of its many reported cases of torture, rape and murder.

IRGC The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...

has solitary confinement cells in Rajai Shahr Prison. In the immediate aftermath of the

Islamic Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...

, there were many systematic executions and interrogation of former members of the overthrown

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy) ...

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

. During the 1980s, members of the liberal

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

and socialist groups (mostly university students) and supporters of The People's Mujahedin of Iran who opposed the theocratic regime were imprisoned and many of them were executed. Mass executions of political prisoners, in particular in Gohardasht and in Evin, took place during the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners. Imprisoned student activist

Majid Tavakoli Majid Tavakoli ( fa, مجید توکلی ; born 1986) is an Iranian student leader, human rights activist and political prisoner. He used to be a member of the Islamic Students' Association at Tehran's Amirkabir University of Technology, where h ...

was transferred to Gohardasht Prison in August 2010. In June 2012, the organization ''Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran'' raised a serious concern with

EU Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

representatives on the situation of political prisoners in Rajaee Shahr: ailing political prisoners are deprived from urgent medical attention, putting their life at risk. On September 13, 2015, Iranian union activist Shahrokh Zamani died while imprisoned here.

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

spoke out against the prison's practice of blinding prisoners in

eye for an eye "An eye for an eye" ( hbo, עַיִן תַּחַת עַיִן, ) is a commandment found in the Book of Exodus 21:23–27 expressing the principle of reciprocal justice measure for measure. The principle exists also in Babylonian law. In Roman c ...

justice in 2015.
Oct. 2016: Political prisoners protest against violations of their basic rights, causing various harms and health challenges and leading to their slow death. The quality of food has decreased recently to the point that many of the prisoners are suffering from malnutrition. On 7 October 2017, Gholam Reza Ziaei replaced Mr. Mardani as director of Gohardasht Prison.Director of Rajaii prison is changed
ISNA-7 Oct. 2017

References

{{coord, 35.8681, N, 50.9789, E, source:wikidata-and-enwiki-cat-tree_region:IR, display=title Prisons in Iran Human rights abuses in Iran Buildings and structures in Tehran Province

See also

References