Iranian Revolutionary Socialists schrieb: > A tale of two prison wings > > > At 20:03 on 31 December 2002 the workers' wing of Amirabad prison in Gorgan > (northern Iran) caught fire. It took fire-fighters three days to bring the > blaze under control and to assess the full extent of the damage and to reveal > a painful human tragedy. > > Officially, there were 27 dead and 9 injured but some estimates put the > number of injured at 200. The high death-toll and casualties was caused > by the severe overcrowding and the lack of basic health and safety measures, > including the use of wooden beams in the roof. Many of the prisoners held > in this wing of the prison are young working class people who have been > condemned by the 'revolutionary courts' for 'petty crimes'. > > Their treatment stands is in stark contrast to how the regime handles its > own people! The wing in Evin jail that houses the 'reformers' and other > 'internal' dissidents is a world apart from the workers' wing of Amirabad > jail - or even other wings of Evin! This wing is so pleasant that it has > earned nicknames like 'The University'! Here the regime's loyal opposition > gets all sorts of facilities it needs to develop its bankrupt theories and > duplicitous cadres. They are allowed "regular exercise, television, radio > and books" (Financial Times, 25 August 2001). A few months ago Akbar Ganji > produced his 121 page Republican Manifesto in Evin. Although we defend the > 'reformers', and all other political prisoners, we must ask one important > question: how many prisoners enjoy such facilities? > > Workers, students and other oppressed layers continuing to be tortured and > treated as before - merely because they have dared to defy this barbaric > regime and have demanded some basic rights. Ever since the CIA reinstated > the Shah in 1953 Evin has been synonymous with torture and executions, > particularly > of political prisoners. The Islamic regime has merely taken over and given > an 'Islamic' veneer to many of the Shah's organs and tools of repression. > It has continued the Evin 'tradition' - but with added gusto. Evin has been > the scene of regular and systematic torture, abuse and murder of political > prisoners, including a mass execution at the end of the Iran-Iraq war. > > Just as with life outside prison, in capitalist society working class people > are always discriminated against. Workers cannot expect any justice under > capitalism. Although there are rumours as to how the fire started, one thing > is clear: the prison authorities could not give a damn about the lives of > the young workers in their charge. The numbers of deaths and injuries speak > volumes about their anti-working class attitude. > > With high unemployment universally considered to be the main problem facing > the regime, and all the other economic and social problems like inflation, > unpaid wages, the lack of any social provisions, drug abuse and so on, > affecting > the working class much more severely than any class or layer, we are going > to see many more working class people locked up in places like the workers' > wing of Amirabad prison. The task of finding the people responsible for > the deaths at Amirabad is inextricably linked with exposing the system that > throws working class people into such death-traps for 'petty crimes'. > > Morad Shirin > 10 January 2003 > > ---------------------------------------- > > Iranian Revolutionary Socialists' League > BM KARGAR > LONDON WC1N 3XX > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.kargar.org/english.htm >
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