Forcible and Oppressive Exile of Saeed Masouri, One of Iran’s Longest-Held Political Prisoners

Iranian Resistance Warns of Regime’s Preparations for Retaliation Against Prisoners

 Following the issuance of death sentences for prisoners accused of membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), escalating pressure on political prisoners, and after the 77th week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign and prisoners’ hunger strike, on the morning of Wednesday, July 16, authorities at Ghezel Hesar Prison forcibly removed Saeed Masouri — one of Iran’s longest-held political prisoners, imprisoned for 25 years without even a single day of furlough — from his ward with violence and beatings, to transfer him to an unknown location.

Other prisoners protested, forcing the henchmen to temporarily return Saeed to his ward in order to calm the situation. Prisoners blocked the entryway to prevent re-entry of suppressive forces. The henchmen have announced that they intend to move Saeed to another location soon, even by force.

In a message, Saeed Masouri wrote: “This abduction under the pretext of transfer is not solely about me; it is fundamentally aimed at controlling, isolating, and silencing prisoners… for further repression and insistence on more killings and executions, exactly as happened in 1988.” He added that he refused to comply with forced exile because he feels “a crime is in progress” and therefore it is necessary to prevent “another silent and unreported massacre like in 1988… Let the world hear this time that a crime is happening, and of course, there is resistance against it.”

In his message, Saeed emphasized: “As a political prisoner supporting the Mojahedin-e Khalq, especially during the days of Muharram and inspired by the eternal message of Imam Hussein, I want to state clearly that… Never shall we retreat even a single step on the path of freedom and dignity because of these prisons, exiles, and executions.”

A group of political prisoners in Ghezel Hesar wrote in a joint statement regarding Saeed’s exile, titled “After 25 Years of Agonizing Imprisonment to an Unknown Location”: “The abduction of political prisoners and their exile to unknown locations is one of the clearest examples of human rights violations, which is widely used to suppress prisoners.”

The political prisoners noted that the Iranian regime “considers the main party it is at war with to be the people, not foreign governments… and the pressure on the people has increased since the war under various pretexts. Stripping the people of security through arbitrary and continuous arrests, mass accusations, and pressuring political prisoners to the point of death, indicates the regime’s mobilization to exact revenge for the recent war from unarmed people. And today, Saeed Masouri, the country’s longest-held political prisoner, is one of those intended to taste this blind revenge.”

Last week, the Revolutionary Guards news agency wrote: “In recent years, efforts have been made to discredit one of the shining records in the field of fighting terrorism (the 1988 massacre) through historical falsification and distortion, but it seems that today is the time to repeat this successful historical experience… It appears that contrary to the hostile networks’ propaganda portraying the 1988 executions as anti-human rights and attempting to brand figures involved in this matter, such as Raisi, as ‘the hanging judge’, today public opinion feels the necessity of such correct action against the domestic terrorism network and values it” (Fars News – July 8, 2025).

The Iranian Resistance warns against suppressive measures and preparations for the execution and killing of political prisoners and calls for immediate action by the United Nations, the Special Rapporteur, the Human Rights Council, and all international human rights organizations to save the lives of Iran’s political prisoners.

 Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)

17 July 2025