Iranian MP Ali Motahari has called on prison authorities to arrange for the families of political prisoners in Ward 350 of Evin Prison to visit their kin, following the publication of contradictory reports about prisoners in that ward receiving beatings.

Qanoon on line reports that Motahari said: “The head of Prison Organizations has to be held accountable. At least the families of these political prisoners must be informed, and if they are in hospital, families must be allowed to visit them.”

The opposition website Kaleme as well as the Human Rights Activists News Agency reported that political prisoners in Ward 350 had been targeted with a severe attack by ministry of intelligence and Revolutionary Guards Intelligence forces and more than 100 soldier guards, which left more than 30 prisoners with injuries, with some requiring hospital care off the prison premises.

The new was denied yesterday by the national head of Prisoner Organizations as well as Tehran’s head of Prisoner Organizations.

Motahari says: “It is not clear they should use such severity, and some people were wounded and some were transferred to solitary confinement. Perhaps some intelligence bodies are acting parallel to the Intelligence Ministry and are trying to create problems for the administration.”

Motahari stressed that the judiciary, the minister of justice and the minister of intelligence have to be held accountable, adding that Parliament will follow up on the matter.

He said those who have refuted the reports should arrange meetings between prisoners and their families to establish the truth.

The minister of intelligence has said, according to Shargh Newspaper, that his ministry will soon issue a statement regarding this incident.

Radio Zamaneh