Agents of the Iranian regime have beaten the relatives of two political prisoners(Vahid and Habib Afkari), merely for protesting the conditions that the pair are being held under, according to one of the prisoners.

On Sunday, June 13, Saeed Afkari, who is the brother of prisoners Vahid and Habib, tweeted that plainclothes agents attacked his family and civil activists who were protesting outside Adelabad prison in Shiraz over the brothers being kept in solitary confinement for over 280 days.

Saeed, who is also the brother of the executed wrestling champion and protester Navid Afkari, wrote: “Plainclothes agents attacked my mother, sister, father, aunts and others; confiscated their phones. My sister and a lady were arrested for a few hours. My father was protecting my sister Elham. Agents took my father away and five female agents who wore chadors attacked Elham, handcuffed her and dragged her on the ground into a van. Elham’s neck and arm are hurt. My mother and aunts have also been severely beaten.”

Others who had attended the protest include the relatives of murdered protesters and activists, some of whom were arrested alongside the Afkari family and whose phones are not able to be reached. Those identified include Jafar Azimzadeh, Sakineh Ahmadi, Narges Mohammadi, Pouran Nazemi, and Nahid Shirbisheh.

What is happening to Habib and Vahid Afkari?

They were arrested alongside Navid in August 2018 protests in Shiraz, but while their brother was executed, they were sentenced to 27 years and three months and 25 years in prison respectively, as well as 74 lashes each, on the charge of “enmity against God” and taking part in anti-regime protests.

Since September, when Navid was executed, the brothers have been held in solitary confinement cells on the “Cautionary” section and are not allowed to communicate with the outside world, other inmates, or even to get fresh air. They’ve also been subjected to severe torture in order to extract forced confessions and denied medical treatment for that or any other reason.

In an audio file smuggled out of prison, Vahid said: “I can only depend on reason and the law. There’s no other way to save my life. People of Iran, I’m innocent!”

He’s actually tried to commit suicide twice because of the torture that he’s experienced, including the very real threat of execution if he doesn’t confess to a murder that he didn’t commit.

In April, Saeed wrote: “The judiciary is also harassing friends and relatives who have expressed condolences to the family (for Navid’s execution) and has been fabricating cases against them.”