Long-time Political Convict 'Escapes From Prison' in Tehran

Yesterday it was claimed that Farhad Salmanpour Zaheer, a political detainee since 2009 and recent whistleblower on a death in custody, had escaped from Evin Prison.

Sparing no enthusiasm on Wednesday, the Iranian lawyer Mohammad Moghimi wrote on Twitter: “Today, August 24, my former client Farhad Salmanpour Zaheer made a bold and clever escape from prison, misleading the unknown soldiers of Imam Zaman [the IRGC] through complex, technical and elegant execution.”

دیروز یکم شهریور موکل سابقم #فرهاد_سلمانپور_ظهیر زندانی سیاسی، در حرکتی جسورانه و زیرکانه با اقدامی بسیار پیچیده، فنی، شیک و مجلسی با گمراه کردن #سربازان_گمنام_امام_زمان از زندان اوین فرار کرد. pic.twitter.com/L1YRrCSqTJ

— Mohammad Moghimi (@Moghimi_Lawyer) August 24, 2022

The activist’s current lawyer Mohammad Hossein Agassi confirmed the same. “The matter of Farhad Salmanpour’s escape has worried his family. He announced his escape on the phone, but now there is no trace of him.”

موضوع فرار فرهادسلمانپور ازاوین،خانواده اورابشدت نگران کرده.
نگرانی آنان ناشی ازمفهوم تماسی است که ظاهرا از زندان ، شخصی ادعاکرده فرارساختگی است. بهرحال فرهاد تلفنی فرار خود را اعلام نموده ولی اینک هیچ اثری از او نیست. pic.twitter.com/13N4wLfbF9

— محمد حسين آقاسي MOHAMAD H AGHASI (@Mhaghasi1) August 24, 2022

Salmanpour, an ethnic Turk, has been in and out of incarceration for more than 10 years for peaceful activities promoting civil rights and the rights of other prisoners of conscience.

He was rearrested in August 2019 and accused of helping a fellow political detainee, Saeed Malekpour, to – as the court itself put it – “escape from Iran”.

He was later acquitted of this charge but was jailed by the Revolutionary Court instead for “conspiracy against national security”, “propaganda against the regime”, “insulting the Supreme Leader” and “disturbing public opinion”.

It was also noted yesterday that Salmanpour may have been the first one to report the sudden death of Shahin Naseri, an inmate of Greater Tehran Penitentiary, who himself had witnessed and spoken about the torture in custody of executed wrestler Navid Afkari.

A Twitter user published an audio file of a phone call apparently placed by Salmanpour from prison on September 21 last year. In it, he stated unequivocally that Naseri had been killed due to his disclosures.

پیام صوتی #فرهاد_سلمانپور_ظهیر در مورد قتل شهید #شاهین_ناصری از زندان تهران_بزرگ
امروز سه شنبه ۳۰ شهریور ۱۴۰۰
زندانی سیاسی شاهین ناصری که در رابطه با دیدن صحنه شکنجه #نوید_افکاری افشاگری کرد چند روز پیش در سالروز شهادت نوید افکاری او را در انفرادی زندان کشتند #ProsecuteRaisiNOW pic.twitter.com/K3Q9grmQkt

— neda azadi (@parvinamiri1) September 21, 2021

"Farhad told me two years ago that he wanted to run away,” his lawyer told a Clubhouse room later on Wednesday. “I discouraged him.”

He claimed that in fact, Salmanpour had been back in front of the District 33 Prosecutor’s Office in Tehran to answer fresh charges when he had fled. The charge in question, he said, was “spreading lies”, in relation to what he had said about Shahin Naseri.

“I’m also representing the family of Mr. Naseri,” he added, “and we have filed a complaint against the prison authorities.

“Farhad Salmanpour had a short call with his family yesterday and told them that he had run away. His family are now anxious for him; one of them is in hospital from the stress. As a lawyer I tried to reassure them, but we don’t have any more information about Farhad at the moment.”