Info:
Soghra Khodadadi, the current director of Qarchak Women’s Prison, was responsible for ordering and directly participating in a violent attack on December 13, 2020 against prisoners of conscience in Ward 8 along with at least 20 other guards. According to publicly available reports, prison guards beat these female prisoners of conscience with batons and stun guns. Khodadadi ordered this attack in retaliation for the prisoners exercising their right to freedom of expression;
Khodadadi is being listed by the Department of State and designated by OFAC pursuant to Section 106 of CAATSA. Qarchak Prison was publicly identified as responsible for certain gross violations of human rights under CAATSA in 2019 and designated in 2020;
Qarchak is an Iranian prison for women located in Qarchak district, in the Varamin neighborhood of Tehran. Iranian authorities reportedly practice extrajudicial killings, torture, and other violations of human rights against prisoners there. Furthermore, female political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, and followers of ethnic and religious minorities endure intolerable pressure on behalf of the guards;
On December 9, state-run media outlets reported the first female warden’s appointment in Iran. Chief of Tehran Prison Organization Seyed Heshmatollah Hatat ol-Gheib officially inaugurated Soghra Khodadadi as the warden of Qarchak Prison;
Like many other torturers and interrogators in Iran, there is not much information about her previous careers. Certainly, she could not be promoted as the warden of the most important Iranian prison for women without being involved in serious acts of human rights violations. Meanwhile, in the past few weeks, her oppressive orders and behaviors prove this reality;
Soghra Khodadadi Taghanaki graduated from the Isfahan Prison Organization’s Scientific-Practical Center in 2017. In other words, she has trained in the notorious Prison Organization to pressure and torture prisoners;
Merely three days after becoming the Warden of Qarchak Prison, Khodadadi commanded a brutal operation against political prisoners. Qarchak’s guards brutally raided Ward 8 with batons and electric shockers;
Soghra Khodadadi intended to remove female political prisoner Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraie and transfer her to Ward 2A of Evin Prison. However, other prisoners severely protested this unreasonable transfer, which made a scandal for the new warden and revealed her cruel nature. Afterward, Soghra Khodadadi took revenge on the injured prisoners by depriving them of medical care;
To intensify pressure on female prisoners, Soghra Khodadadi has also planned to impose compulsory hijab with chador for all female prisoners. She acts with impunity in this prison to commit whatever crime she wants against defenseless inmates, particularly political prisoners and prisoners of conscience;
Resorting to different oppressive methods—based on her education in the Prison Organization’s Scientifical-Practical Center, she has deprived prisoners of their fundamental rights. Soghra Khodadadi, in some cases, exerts more pressure in comparison to her predecessor. These cases include discrimination, deprivation, prisoners’ density in various wards, and high prices of essential goods in the prison’s shop;
Moreover, Soghra Khodadadi does not observe minimum human principles and social norms. She deprives inmates of medical care with obscene language;
Involved In:
Human Rights Abuses
Also Known As:
TAGHANAKE, Soghra Khodadadi
TAGHANAKI, Soghra Khodadadi
Born:
27 Mar 1971
Country:
Iran
Address:
Varamin, Tehran, Iran
Nationality:
Iran
Passport:
B50799950 (Iran) (individual)