In an open letter, political prisoner Mehran Raoof sheds light on how he and other political and double national prisoners are denied their fundamental rights in Iranian prisons.

He highlights that governments often use double national prisoners as leverage in negotiations with other countries, so the recent pardon and commutation directive does not include them.

Raoof further speaks out against the violations of his rights during detention, stating that the IRGC intelligence unit held him in detention for eight months without any furlough or access to a lawyer, which is a clear violation of Iranian law. Moreover, for several months, his family was kept in the dark about his condition and whereabouts, and he was not even allowed to contact them.

He ends his letter with these statements:
“This clear discrimination and oppression are not unfamiliar to us, who have lived under the rule of the Islamic Republic for over 40 years. Many of us, including political prisoners, women’s rights activists, environmental activists, and workers’ rights activists are imprisoned on charges of having different beliefs and opinions and protesting against wrong and dictatorial policies and laws. We stand in solidarity with the nationwide protests, demanding the unconditional release of all political prisoners.”

In October 2020, IRGC intelligence agents arrested this 65-year-old British-Iranian national and held him for eight months in a detention facility known as Ward 2A in Evin Prison. Later, he was relocated to Ward 1. In August 2021, Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Iman Afshari, sentenced him to ten years and eight months in prison, which was later reduced to seven years and six months.