The situation of political prisoners in Iran has given Amnesty International even greater cause for concern during the past year than in previous years. Although no official executions of political prisoners have been announced by the government, nine political prisoners, including seven adopted by AI, were allegedly “shot while trying to escape” in April 1975. In a cable to the Shah of Iran, Secretary General Martin Ennals called for a medical commission of inquiry into the deaths, and in a news release AI expressed “serious doubts about the credibility of the official account of the death of these men”. The men were known to have been among 114 political prisoners who had been moved to Evin prison at the beginning of March 1975, and reports of their torture had reached AI from that time. After the death of the nine men, there were reports that 5,000 civil and political prisoners at Qassar prison in Teheran had gone on hunger strike. The Secretary General appealed to the Shah to allow an International Red Cross mission to visit the prison. [Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]

One of the seven AI-adopted prisoners who died, Hassan Zia Zarifi, was the subject of an urgent appeal in January 1975, after news had reached AI that he and two other political prisoners, Massud Batai and Shokrollah Paknedjad, were being tortured. [Shokrollah Paknejad]

Urgent action was taken on behalf of prisoners in Iran in October 1974. The appeal concerned Dr Simian Salehi, Lotfollah Meysami and Sherin Moazed. [Shirin Moazed] Dr Salehi was seven months pregnant at the time of her arrest, and conflicting reports of her condition, as a result of torture, have been received by AI. One report was that she had died, while another stated that her baby had been stillborn, but that Dr Salehi herself was still alive and in bad health. At the time of writing no further news has been received about her. Information relating to deaths under torture has been received during the year. In particular, AI was informed of the death of a young woman, Maleaheh Pazoki.

Although, as mentioned earlier, no official announcements have been made of executions of political prisoners, in July 1974 the Iranian government announced that 239 drug pedlars had been executed by firing squads in 2½ years. This large number of executions has caused particular concern because of the inadequacy of trial procedures in Iran. Further executions, of two Iraqi hijackers, were reported in April 1975.

Two amnesties for prisoners sentenced by military tribunals have been announced during the past year. The first, which coincided with Human Rights Day (10 December 1974) was for 102 prisoners. The second amnesty, for 270 prisoners, was granted to mark the Iranian New Year, beginning 21 March 1975. [Norouz] It is not known whether any AI-adopted prisoners were released as a result of these amnesties.

AI groups are working on 10 adoption cases and 89 investigation cases of Iranian prisoners. The total number of political prisoners has been reported at times throughout the year to be anything from 25,000 to 100,000 but AI is not able to make any reliable estimate.