Photo via @AlinejadMasih/Twitter
August 24, 2021, 12:57 pm
Some incredible footage from inside of an Iranian prison notorious for the abuse of its inmates shows the exact moment that the guard watching the security feeds realizes that something has gone very wrong. For the prison, at least.
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As the guard watches, several of the screens flash red and are replaced with a message from a hacker group that was able to break through the Evin prison’s cyber-security and obtain and play footage of other guards beating prisoners and dragging one limp man through its interior. Video of this was obtained by the Associated Press and posted to Twitter, forcing the Iranian government to acknowledge that the hacking and the footage are real, as well as the abuse the prison has been accused of.
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Everything appears to be normal at the beginning of the video until, one by one, screens start going out, with one replaced with the blue screen of death and a laptop seeming to reboot. Then one of the monitors on the wall starts flashing red and the message appears, prompting the guard to get up as the same thing happens to at least seven of the screens in front of him.
“The Evin prison is a stain on Raisi’s black turban and white beard,” the hacker message reads, referring to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. “General protest until the freedom of political prisoners.”
The video skips ahead to show three other men in the room, watching the hacked monitors, with one filming them with his cell phone. At 1:38, it changes to show a limp, elderly inmate being dragged around by the arms and up a flight of stairs.
The footage prompted the head of the Iranian prison system, Mohammad Mehdi Hajmohammadi, to confess that it was all real and beg forgiveness to both the public and his god for the abuse taking place in the Evin prison.
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This is the moment that the officials in Evan prison realized that they have been hacked. Hackers have accessed security camera footage from inside an Iranian prison where political prisoners are being held, and posted videos of guards beating inmates. pic.twitter.com/ys1prSVqkI— Masih Alinejad
(@AlinejadMasih) August 23, 2021
“My apologies to the Almighty God, the dear Supreme Leader, our great nation and the noble prison officers whose efforts will not be ignored because of the wrongdoings” of others, he said.
This response was considered to be underwhelming by Iranian citizens who have known the prison to be a hotbed of abuse since its construction in 1971, especially as Hajmohammadi failed to speak on any specific plans to address the problem.
According to the Associated Press report, the footage of abuse includes beatings from guards, a man smashing a mirror to try and cut his own arm with the glass, prisoners beating each other without intervention from staff, and crowded cells with triple-stacked bunk beds full of men huddling under blankets for warmth. Timestamps and masks indicate that the videos are from 2020, yet prisoners and most guards are not wearing masks and there is no semblance of social distancing.
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3-Here’s another video that has leaked. You can see officials of the Evin Prison savagely beating a male prisoner. I have interviewed many families whose children were beaten to death in prison. They refuse to accept officials’ apologies. They blame the entire regime for savagery pic.twitter.com/WBhjzizKpJ
— Masih Alinejad
Another video obtained by Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad shows a guard repeatedly striking a prisoner in the back of the head as others show up to kick him until he collapses on the floor.
The hacker group who carried out this attack, reportedly calling itself “The Justice of Ali,” sent the footage they obtained and a message for the prison to the AP demanding the release of the prisoners.
“We want the world to hear our voice for freedom of all political prisoners,” they said.
*First Published: August 24, 2021, 12:57 pm
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