Info:
Former head of Evin Prison, appointed in mid-2012. During his tenure, conditions in the prison deteriorated and reports referenced intensified ill-treatment of prisoners. In October 2012, nine female prisoners went on hunger strike in protest of the violation of their rights and violent treatment by prison guards;
During his various tenures as a prison authority, Ali Ashraf Rashidi Aghdam has become responsible for numerous human rights violations against political prisoners and prisoners of conscience;
On March 13, 2013, the European Union placed Ali Ashraf Rashidi Aghdam on the list of human rights sanctions for his key role in violating the rights of Iranian citizens. According to the EU statement, Ali Ashraf Rashidi Aghdam has been placed on a human rights sanctions list for “deteriorating conditions at Evin Prison” for prisoners and for “violating the rights of female political prisoners”;
As head of Dizel Abad Prison, Rashidi Aghdam was responsible for the harassment of political prisoners, through his failure to separate them from populations of drug and sex offenders;
As Director of Evin Prison, Rashidi Aghdam was responsible for the widespread physical abuse and medical neglect of prisoners of conscience. He was also responsible for a violent raid on ward 350 of the prison, during which dozens of prisoners were injured and had their personal belongings destroyed. Many of these injured prisoners were handcuffed to their beds, transferred to solitary confinement, denied medical treatments, and tortured;
As Deputy of Health and Rehabilitation for prisons in Tehran Province, Rashidi Aghdam is responsible the physical and sexual violence against female political prisoners in Evin Prison;
Female political prisoners in a quarantined section of Evin Prison, protested against violent and invasive body cavity searches and sexual abuse, by going on hunger strike on 30 October 2012. According to their families, they were brutally searched at the hands of three female guards after their ward was raided by prison security forces;
In a letter to Ali Ashraf Rashidi Aghdam, the prisoners wrote, “the brutal behaviour of some of the prison officers during the body cavity searches of the female prisoners cannot and will not be forgiven. As this violent and obvious act of aggression and desecration is so reprehensible, putting pen to paper to describe it makes one feel ashamed and disgraced. Given the existence of a myriad of security cameras watching prisoners’ every move and the restrictions imposed upon prisoners regarding what is allowed to be taken into the ward, not to mention the modern electronic tools available for conducting body searches in a respectable manner, we are at a loss for words regarding why prison authorities have resorted to such humiliating behaviour.”;
Positions:
– Head of Dizel Abad Prison from 2006 to 2010
– Director General of the Prisons Organisation in Kermanshah Province from 2010 to 2012
– Director of Evin Prison from 2012 to 2015
– Deputy of Health and Rehabilitation for prisons in Tehran Province from 2012 until present
Also Known As:
Ali Ashraf Rostami Aghdam
Country:
Iran