Iranian Rapper Saman Yassin Details Torture in Prison

In an audio message, imprisoned Iranian rapper Saman Yasin details the torture he has endured at the hands of his interrogators since his arrest last year, including mock executions and beatings.

The audio was released by the Didban Human Rights Network on August 24.

Yasin, who was arrested during nationwide protests on October 2, 2022, says he was subjected to solitary confinement and thrown from the stairs in Ward 241 of Tehran’s Evin prison. 

"I was at home when I was apprehended in the dead of night, without knowing why," Yasin says in the audio message. "If I committed any wrongdoing, charge me; if I’m innocent, release me from this limbo of uncertainty that torments me."

As part of attempts to force him to confess to crimes he did not commit, the artist says he was falsely informed that his entire family had been arrested.

سامان یاسین، خواننده رپ، در یک پیام صوتی، آخرین وضعیت خود را از زمان بازداشت و شکنجه‌هایش در بیمارستان روان‌پزشکی امین‌آباد و زندان شرح می‌دهد.

او شکنجه‌هایش دوران بازداشت از اعدام ساختگی تا پارگی حفره بینی در اثر شکنجه بازجویان امنیتی و فشار برای انجام اعترافات اجباری را بازگو… pic.twitter.com/YaIvhx8YDC

— دادبان (@dadban4) August 24, 2023

In Amin Abad Psychiatric Hospital, he says he was “forcibly tied to the hospital bed” by prison personnel and was injected with an “unidentified substance” that dramatically affected his physical and mental condition.

Saman Yasin had previously expressed frustration with the uncertainty surrounding his legal status in a voice message published by IranWire. 

He said he was denied his most basic rights, including access to legal representation.

The well-known rapper was a vocal critic of the Islamic Republic before his arrest and supported the anti-government protests that swept the country last year.