Iran's Judiciary Not To Tolerate "Sedition"

Baku, Azerbaijan, April 24



By Umid Niayesh - Trend:



While finger-pointing regarding last week's incident in Iran's Evin prison is increasing, the senior judiciary official has made an important announcement.



Head of the country's Judicial, Sadeq Amoli Larijani said that those who try to start a "sedition" in Iran, will be seriously confronted.



"Henceforth Iranian judiciary will not show any tolerance towards such people," Larijani said, Iran's IRIB news agency reported on April 24.



The "sedition" particularly used by Iranian officials referring the mass protests in the country after the disputed presidential elections in 2009.



Commenting on the Evin prison incident, Larijani said that the inspection in Evin prison was a completely legal procedure, adding that "according to the report of the head of Iran's prisons, there was no wrongdoing during the inspections".



The events that happened in the prison were first published by local Iranian reformist websites. The news said several political prisoners held in Evin prison were beaten after scuffles broke out at a cell block on April 17. Some of the inmates were seriously hurt and taken to hospital.



Iranian officials dismissed the information, claiming it was inaccurate, and that it was the prisoners who resisted an inspection and started a fight with the guards.



Larijani said that the people planning "sedition" and foreign media are using the incident as a tool to cause unrests in the country.



"Some people inside Iran are involved in this anti-Iran movement, accompanying the foreigners and the anti-revolutionary media," he added.



Larijani removed the head of the Iran's Prisons Organization Gholamhossein Esmaili from his post and appointed him as head of Tehran Judiciary on April 23.



However Iran's judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei dismissed any links between the prison incident and the removal of the Prisons Organization's head, saying that the decision was been made several weeks ago.



Mohseni Ejei also remarked that Esmaili's new post as head of Tehran Judiciary should be considered a career promotion.



Dozens of family members of the prisoners held protests near Iranian president Hassan Rouhani's office on April 22, demanding that he responds to the reports on the issue.



The vice-president and spokesman of the Iranian government, Mohammad Bagher Nobakht said on April 23 that a special team was assembled to investigate, and look into the details of the matter.