Who Is Behind Ghezel Hesar Prison’s Brutal Crackdown on Iran’s Political Prisoners

Staff WriterAugust 2, 2025
Who Is Behind Ghezel Hesar Prison’s Brutal Crackdown on Iran’s Political Prisoners
Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj — a unit known for housing some of the country’s most resilient political prisoners

Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj — a unit known for housing some of the country’s most resilient political prisoners
Written by
Amir Taghati

July 26, 2025, marked another violent and coordinated crackdown on political prisoners in Iran’s recent memory. In a premeditated assault, more than 100 heavily armed Special Guard forces stormed Unit 4 of Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj — a unit known for housing some of the country’s most resilient political prisoners. This attack was led under the direct command of Allahkaram Azizi, the prison’s notorious director, and Hassan Ghobadi, his deputy, with the full involvement of agents from Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence, prison intelligence officers, and regular guards.

According to eyewitness accounts from inside the prison, the operation targeted prisoners associated with the growing civil resistance campaign “No to Execution Tuesdays.” In a bid to suppress this movement, inmates were violently beaten, insulted, hooded, shackled, and transferred to solitary confinement. Among the operatives named in the attack were Esmail Farajnejad (Deputy Prison Governor), Hossein Komrei (Head of Security), Mohammad Sabzeh-Makan, Rahim Feyzi, Ahmad Shirazi, and an officer identified only as Fallah.

Shortly after this crackdown, two political prisoners — PMOI members Mehdi Hassani and Behrouz Ehsani — were executed. Another political prisoner, Saeed Masouri, was exiled to the notorious Zahedan Prison. This calculated sequence of violence and punishment underscores the regime’s intensifying effort to crush any dissent behind bars.

Allahkaram Azizi: Architect of Repression and Corruption
Allahkaram Azizi, the director of Ghezel Hesar Prison, is widely recognized as the architect of a deeply corrupt and violent prison regime. Credible reports implicate him in overseeing a system built on the physical and psychological torture of prisoners, the trafficking of industrial drugs within the prison, the sale of mobile phones at exorbitant prices, and the embezzlement of charitable donations intended for inmates.

Azizi’s prison operations resemble a criminal cartel rather than a correctional institution. Under his command, Ghezel Hesar — which houses over 10,000 inmates — has become a symbol of systematic abuse, far removed from any accepted standard of prison management or international law. As a result, Azizi has been sanctioned by the United States, the European Union, and Australia for gross human rights violations.

Disturbingly, Azizi does not limit himself to administrative cruelty. Multiple reports confirm his personal presence at prisoner executions, including a video secretly recorded during the execution of five inmates at Gohardasht Prison. In it, Azizi is seen supervising the scene to its brutal conclusion, embodying the regime’s strategy of instilling fear through direct and visible terror.

Hassan Ghobadi: Enforcer of Violence
Hassan Ghobadi, Ghezel Hesar’s deputy director and formerly a senior official at both Gohardasht and Evin Prisons, has played a direct and aggressive role in suppressing political dissent. He is specifically implicated in the beatings and torture of political prisoners and was a key figure in the execution of Mehdi Hassani and Behrouz Ehsani.

Evidence also links Ghobadi to the forced deportation of Saeed Masouri and to orchestrated violence in both Evin and Gohardasht prisons. His involvement in such acts further underscores the regime’s use of prison officials not merely as jailers but as frontline agents of state repression.

Fereydoun Farajnejad: “The Death Messenger” of Ghezel Hesar
Perhaps the most chilling figure in the current prison hierarchy is Fereydoun Farajnejad, the deputy health director of Ghezel Hesar. Described by inmates as a sadistic figure who refers to himself as a “messenger of death,” Farajnejad has taken a lead role in both the physical and psychological torture of political prisoners.

Among his most horrifying acts:

Psychological torment, including hanging dead rats in front of prisoners while telling them, “It’s easier to kill you than a rat.”
Distributing white burial sheets to prisoners with the taunt: “You will throw these over your own bodies.”
Forcing methamphetamine use among healthy prisoners, particularly those with athletic builds, as a means of physical degradation.
Operating a black market of drugs and mobile phones inside the prison, charging exorbitant prices, and using bribes to delay or accelerate executions.
Farajnejad has also extorted families of prisoners by demanding bribes to prevent executions or arrange visits. Charitable donations meant to provide fruit or sweets to inmates are seized and sold in the prison’s commissary for profit. Even access to basic legal communication is conditional on payment.

A Web of Systemic Abuse
The collective actions of Azizi, Ghobadi, and Farajnejad form a network of systematic abuse at Ghezel Hesar Prison that violates international human rights treaties to which Iran is a signatory.

Violated International Standards Include:
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) – Articles 6, 7, 9, and 10:
Right to life (Art. 6)
Prohibition of torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment (Art. 7)
Right to liberty and security of person (Art. 9)
Humane treatment of prisoners (Art. 10)
The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules) – including:
Rule 1: Respect for dignity and value as human beings
Rule 43: Prohibition of indefinite solitary confinement
Rule 60-64: Right to communication, visits, and legal correspondence
Convention Against Torture (CAT) – although Iran has not ratified this treaty, the prohibition of torture is considered customary international law and universally binding.
The events at Ghezel Hesar Prison are not isolated incidents but part of a coordinated and ongoing campaign of political repression through incarceration, torture, execution, and extortion. As political prisoners continue to be targeted for expressing dissent, international silence or inaction will only embolden the perpetrators.

The international community must act decisively to hold officials like Allahkaram Azizi, Hassan Ghobadi, and Fereydoun Farajnejad accountable through sanctions, initiating international investigations, and referring these cases to UN special rapporteurs and international tribunals.

The case of Ghezel Hesar stands as a stark reminder that the Iranian regime’s war on freedom is being fought not only on the streets — but behind the closed, bloodstained doors of its prisons.

 

Who Is Behind Ghezel Hesar Prison’s Brutal Crackdown on Iran’s Political Prisoners

Staff WriterAugust 2, 2025
Arab-Islamic Committee in Defence of Ashraf
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