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"Iran: The Power of the Alternative" is a Special Report prepared by The Washington Times Special Sections Department.

The Washington Times had a report about the annual gathering of Iranian in exile, which took place at Ashraf 3 in Albania, organised by the Iran’s largest opposition group.

Ashraf 3 is the city built by more than 3,000 Iranian dissidents who used to be in Iraq.

In this report you can read: “Under the plan, Maryam Rajavi would step in as president-elect until elections are held. Mrs. Rajavi — the wife of MEK co-founder Massoud Rajavi, who disappeared in 2003 — was the star of Saturday’s event. Her remarks were interrupted repeatedly by loud chants of “Iran! Maryam! Freedom!” and “From Ashraf to Tehran, we will fight to the end!”

Iran sentenced Saba Kord Afshari, a civil rights activist to 24 years behind bars of which she will serve 15 for protesting compulsory veiling.

Saba Kord Afshari stood trial on 19 August, 2019, and was charged with “spreading corruption and prostitution by taking off her hijab and walking without a veil,” “spreading propaganda against the state,” and “assembly and collusion.”

The verdict was issued by the branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court and the lawyer of Ms Kordafshari was informed about it on 27 August.

Her sentences were increased by one-half because of “numerous charges and previous records.”

The maximum sentenced to be implemented for her is 15 years for “promoting corruption and prostitution by removing her veil and walking in the streets without the veil.”

The Iranian regime has a history of cracking down on its opponents. Incommunicado detentions, arbitrary abductions, summary executions, torture and enforced disappearances are among practices commonly used against opponents.

Dissident intellectuals and students, ethnic groups and religious minorities, and members and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) have always been targeted.

With the brutal suppression of the last demonstrations in Tehran and other cities which peacefully demanded freedom on 20 June, 1981, the regime’s crackdown took a sharp turn and climaxed during the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners.

In summer 1988, a wave of intense killings began in Evin and Gohardasht prisons, in Tehran and Karaj, respectively. The mass executions then extended to other prisons all across the country. Tens of thousands of political prisoners mostly members of the PMOI were among victims of enforced disappearances in Iran and extra-judicially executed during the massacre.

 Political prisoner Akbar Bagheri has started a hunger strike since 7 August, protesting lack of medical access in prison which led to his deteriorating health and legal conditions, and his exile to the Greater Tehran Penitentiary.

kbar Bagheri, incarcerated in the Great Tehran Penitentiary, was taken to the ward of dangerous criminals on the fourth day of his strike.

According to Iranian law, prisons are required to divide prisoners according to the nature of their convictions.

But political prisoners continue to be transferred to and held in prisons and wards with inmates convicted of violent crimes or with substance abuse issues.

Article 69 of the prisons organization’s regulations states that: “All convicts, upon being admitted to walled prisons or rehabilitation centres, will be separated based on the type and duration of their sentence, prior record, character, morals and behaviour, in accordance with decisions made by the Prisoners Classification Council.”

Two prisoners were hanged on Saturday, August 10, in the central prison of Mashhad, the state-run Khorasan daily reported Sunday. The state media did not identiry the victims by name but it said they will publish the full report in following days.

In another development last Wednesday, five more prisoners were hanged in the notorious Rajai Shahr Prison, in Karaj.

These prisoners, along with a number of other prisoners, had been moved to the solitary confinement prior to their executions.

The regime later returned some of these prisoners back to their cells. The regime usually moves prisoners who are listed to be hanged soon, to solitary confinement where they have to count minutes and hours to have a hangman taking them to the gallows.

The Iranian regime hanged 39 prisoners in July alone. Four were women and there was one public hanging.
The executions took place in the prisons of Birjand, Ghohardasht, Karaj, Kashan, Khondab, Mahshahar, Kelardasht, Orumeh, Noor, Mashhad,

Two prisoners were hanged on Saturday, August 10, in the central prison of Mashhad, the state-run Khorasan daily reported Sunday. The state media did not identiry the victims by name but it said they will publish the full report in following days.

In another development last Wednesday, five more prisoners were hanged in the notorious Rajai Shahr Prison, in Karaj.

These prisoners, along with a number of other prisoners, had been moved to the solitary confinement prior to their executions.

The regime later returned some of these prisoners back to their cells. The regime usually moves prisoners who are listed to be hanged soon, to solitary confinement where they have to count minutes and hours to have a hangman taking them to the gallows.

The Iranian regime hanged 39 prisoners in July alone. Four were women and there was one public hanging.
The executions took place in the prisons of Birjand, Ghohardasht, Karaj, Kashan, Khondab, Mahshahar, Kelardasht, Orumeh, Noor, Mashhad,

The Iranian political prisoners, held on horrific condition have no choice but going on hunger strike and risk their own health to convey their voice to the outside world.

These hunger strikes highlight the fact that Iranian regime has remained indifferent to human suffering as it ever has been.
There is desperate need for international inquiries into the grim condition of political prisoners in Iran.

Here are some instances of political prisoners or prisoners of conscience who has gone on hunger strike as the only alternative to fighting for their rights.

Mass Hunger Strike Launched in Evin Prison

In an open letter calling on the people of Iran to support their demands, six political prisoners in Ward 4 of Tehran’s Evin Prison have announced that they’ve gone on hunger strike to protest the judiciary’s treatment of political prisoners.

A prisoner held at Urmia Central Prison, northwest Iran, died on 8 July as a result of the prison authorities’ medical negligence.
Ashkan Mehrivash passed away on Monday, 8 July, because the prison’s defibrillator was not working.

Ashkan, detained in Ward 15 of Urmia Prison, was taken to the prison clinic after suffering a heart attack.

Despite this, prison officials have reported his cause of death as a “drug overdose”.

According to Iranian human rights groups, one of the prison guards protested the official report and said that prison officials were blaming their medical negligence on the prisoner.

This is not the first time that a prisoner dies as a result of medical negligence in Iranian state custody. Despite this, officials have not taken any substantial measures to prevent these kinds of deaths.

The State Prisons Organization and the judiciary are responsible for keeping prisoners safe but to date no organization or individual has been held responsible for the deaths.

Iran’s prisons are notoriously harsh. Prisoners are usually held in overcrowded, unsanitary and poorly ventilated conditions. This, combined with the denial of adequate medical care, often exacerbates prisoners’ pre-existing medical problems or contributes to new problems, causing irreparable damage to their health.

Political prisoner Alireza Shir-Mohammad-Ali, 21, was stabbed to death by two inmates in the notorious Greater Tehran’s Penitentiary on Monday, 10 June, this year.

Alireza Shir-Mohammad-Ali was from Tehran’s Naziabad district in south Tehran. He had been arrested and detained in July 2018. He had been sentenced to 8 years in prison for insulting Khomeini and Khamenei, the mullahs’ leaders, and for anti-regime propaganda.

Political prisoners Alireza Shir-Mohammad-Ali and Barzan Mohammadi had been on hunger strike since 14 March until April 16, 2019, demanding separation of prisoners of different categories. They also protested the dire living and health conditions in Greater Tehran’s Penitentiary and lack of security in prison.