Flash floods across much of Iran have killed at least 17 people and injured 74, Iranian state TV reported on Monday.
National Emergency Service chief Pirhossein Koolivand said the casualty toll in the southern city of Shiraz was 17 dead and 74 injured, while another person was killed in Sarpol-e Zahab in the western province of Kermanshah, the service said on its website.
However, local sources in Shiraz, a major city in south-central Iran say over 120 people have been killed as a result of flash floods pouring into the city. A Source from the city of Shiraz says many hospitals are filled with dead bodies and the regime is lying claiming 17 were killed.
Flash flooding in southern and parts of western Iran reached a new level on Monday while Iranian social media users harshly criticizing the authorities for their handling of the disaster.
At least 30 of Iran’s 31 provinces witnessed flood conditions as reports indicate at least 120 dead in the historic city of Shiraz alone. At the same time, the regime is trying to hide the real number of victims with the state media reporting 19 people dead.
Mostafa Pourmohammadi, former Iran’s Justice Minister in Hassan Rouhani’s cabinet, has acknowledged his involvement in the killings of dissidents during the horrendous 1988 massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners.
Pourmohammadi was the Intelligence Ministry’s representative on one of the three-member committees in charge of interrogating political prisoners prior to the 1988 executions. The committee, dubbed the “death commission,” questioned prisoners who had already been sentenced to prison about their political and religious beliefs.
An investigation into a dossier of crimes committed by the Iranian dictators has been called for, as a result of a statement issued by Amnesty International and published by the United Nations General Assembly.
According to the statement, “Between late July and September 1988, the Iranian authorities forcibly disappeared and extrajudicial executed thousands of prisoners for their political opinions and dumped their bodies in unmarked individual and mass graves… Since then, the authorities have tormented the relatives by refusing to tell them when, how and why their loved ones were killed and by keeping their remains hidden. To reinforce secrecy, they have also destroyed mass grave sites and forbidden commemorations.”
who was involved in extra-judicial killings of political prisoners in the late 1980s in Iran will be Iran’s next Judiciary Chief, replacing Sadeq Amoli Larijani.
The spokesperson for Iran’s Judiciary has confirmed that Raisi who is considered a person who is trusted by the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is appointed as the head of the Judiciary.
Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, told Iranian media on Sunday that he will continue to work with the Judiciary under Raisi.
Since mid-December 2018, the head of Rajai Shahr Prison, have denied several political prisoners of medical treatment.
The ban started after a prisoner convicted of murder escaped while being transferred to the hospital but has only continued to be enforced against political prisoners.
Reports indicate that many prisoners, especially political prisoners were waiting for some time to go to the hospital.
The ban is life threatening for a number of prisoners suffering from serious illnesses.
Iranian authorities have a long history of putting the lives of political prisoners at serious risk by denying them adequate medical care.
Iran is denying urgent lifesaving medical treatment to a political prisoner who was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer.
Arash Sadeghi, 38, is serving 19 years in prison for peaceful human rights work, which includes speaking to the media and Amnesty International.
He has been suffering from medical problems since he was sent to Raja’i Shahr prison in Karaj in June 2016. It is believed that they started with an untreated infection on his shoulder that developed after an operation, causing him severe pain in his arm.
Iranian authorities have extended the travel ban on the widow of an Iranian-Canadian environmentalist who died under suspicious circumstances in prison last year after being arrested on suspicion of spying, according to state-run news agency IRNA on Tuesday.
Payam Derafshan, the lawyer for Widow Maryam Mombeini, said that he had gone to a Tehran court on Sunday to seek an end to the year-long travel ban imposed on her following the death of her husband Kavous Seyed-Emami, but the court extended the ban instead.
Iranian prison guards in riot gear beat prisoners and used tear gas, firearms and pepper spray during raids inside the Qarchak women’s prison, east of Tehran, family members of the prisoners held at the facility reported.
This raid, taking place Thursday night, involved units equipped with pepper spray and tear gas attacking Hall 1 and 2 where prisoners convicted of drugs charges are held.
Reacting to an article published in the Iran official daily newspaper describing the situation of political prisoners as favorable, young political prisoners, Saba Kord Afshari and Yasamin Aryani, sent an open letter from notorious Evin Prison, revealing tough prison conditions.
On 17 January, 2019, the official Iran daily newspaper claimed that “The security (political) convicts have no problems and are in the best situation in terms of phone calls, family visits and using medical facilities.”