Two Sunni prisoners, Foad Rezazadeh and Moslem Marivani, have been transferred back to Rajai Shahr prison after being held for over a month in solitary confinement in Kermanshah Intelligence prison, Iran. They had been removed from Rajai Shahr prison over a month ago.
According to reports, the men were beaten and tortured during their time in solitary confinement, in order to extract false confessions.
“Both of them were in solitary confinement for the whole time they were in Kermanshah Intelligence [prison]" a source told HRANA, "they were put under severe pressure and treated in a viciously bad way, to force them to sign confessions."
Foad Rezazadeh, a Sunni Muslim who was active in spreading the teachings of Sunni Islam, was subject to such an unbearable level of persecution from the authorities that he felt forced to sell his house and leave the country.
He had been threatened many times by security forces, and had already been imprisoned for 18 months in Rajai Shahr prison. He was re-arrested shortly after his release.
“Foad Rezazadeh was summoned and threatened many times by the Ministry of Intelligence, until it reached the point that he [decided] to leave the country," a source told HRANA.
He continued: "Foad sold his house and had the money with him when the plainclothes [agents] arrested him. His money was confiscated by the agents and [this] was not mentioned in the dossier.”
The second Sunni prisoner, Moslem Marivani, was arrested 14 months ago in Marivan, Kurdistan province of Iran.
He was held in solitary confinement for 10 months in the Kermanshah Intelligence Bureau detention center (known as 'Naft square' detention centre) and in Evin prison, before being transferred to Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj.
Both men are now held in the infamous Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj, which holds at least 130 Sunni scholars, preachers and students.
Actively spreading Sunni Islam can be dangerous in Iran, a Shia-ruled country, where ethnic and religious minorities face discrimination and persecution. Many Sunni scholars and students of knowledge have been imprisoned and even executed after unfair trials using 'confessions' obtained through torture.