Today, the Iranian prison service denied that women were being sexually abused in its facilities and vowed to press charges against anybody who made such claims. According to a statement made by the service and posted on the judiciary’s Mizan Online website, ‘no report has been recorded on rape crimes in women’s prisons’.
The group also stated that it ‘reserves the right’ to bring legal action against anyone found spreading misleading information. The declaration comes in response to recent foreign media stories reporting massive sexual assaults on both men and women detained following protests spurred by the death of a young Iranian Kurdish woman while in detention. According to the statement, women’s prisons are ‘structured in such a way’ that only female staff members have access to inmates.
It went on to say that separating female convicts from the men’s portion was one of the most crucial requirements in the nation’s jails. The Iranian judiciary’s jail service further stated that female detainees are watched over ’24 hours a day’ and that inspections of its detention facilities are conducted on a regular basis.
The murder of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old who had been detained by Tehran’s morality police for allegedly breaking Iran’s severe clothing code for women, on September 16 served as a catalyst for protests. Mahsa had been accused of breaking the country’s rigorous dress code. Over 2,000 individuals have already been charged, along with thousands more Iranians and roughly 40 foreigners who were arrested.
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