Family of Murdered Iranian Prisoner Demand Justice

The family of an Iranian prisoner killed in jail while serving an eight-year sentence has demanded officials should be brought to justice, ILNA news agency reported on Sunday.

Alireza Shir Mohammad Ali, 21, was stabbed "more than 30 times" on June 10 in Fashafooyeh prison in South Tehran, according to ILNA and state news agency IRNA. 

"The mother of my client has asked the head of the judiciary not to ignore her son's spilt blood," ILNA quoted the victim's lawyer Mohammad Hadi Erfanian as saying.

Shir Mohammad Ali had been charged with "insulting the sanctities, insulting high-ranking officials and propagating against the (political) system" of the Islamic Republic, Erfanian told ILNA. The details of the charges against him were not elaborated.

He was sentenced to eight years in prison, and had been due to appear before the appeals court on July 9.

Two suspects have been indicted over the killing, one for "murder" and the other for "complicity in murder", the judiciary's official news agency Mizan Online reported, adding the victim's family has asked for them to be executed.

According to the lawyer, the suspects are two inmates who were in the same prison as the victim. "A sharp object" was used, Mizan reported.

Prisoners facing security charges are usually kept at Tehran's Evin prison, and "I don’t understand why (Shir Mohammad Ali)was sent to Fashafooyeh ... as the law insists on the segregation of prisoners," the attorney said.  

"The prison director, the chief guard and other officials of the prison must be held accountable," ILNA quoted Erfanian as saying.

"A political prisoner should not be kept in a ward where thieves, murderers and smugglers are kept so that such a thing would not happen," said Tehran MP Ali Motahari, according to Khabar Online news website and Shargh daily.