{"id":348590,"date":"2026-10-06T10:18:51","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T09:18:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=348590"},"modified":"2026-10-06T10:18:51","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T09:18:51","slug":"no-trace-will-remain-tehran-erases-gohardasht-prison-while-its-machinery-of-repression-moves-elsewhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/human-rights\/no-trace-will-remain-tehran-erases-gohardasht-prison-while-its-machinery-of-repression-moves-elsewhere\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cNo Trace Will Remain\u201d: Tehran Erases Gohardasht Prison While Its Machinery of Repression Moves Elsewhere"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Demolition
Demolition of a watchtower at Gohardasht Prison (Raja\u2019i Shahr), Karaj, Alborz Province, Iran, October 3, 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Four-minute read<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Iranian state television chose an unsettling phrase to announce the completion of the demolition of Gohardasht Prison, also known officially as Rajaei-Shahr. \u201cIn the near future, <\/strong><\/span>no trace of the prison will be seen in Rajaei-Shahr<\/strong>,\u201d the <\/span>broadcaster reported<\/span><\/a> on October 5, 2026, after the remaining walls and watchtowers were brought down. For an ordinary obsolete prison, the language might have been unremarkable. Gohardasht, however, was one of the principal killing grounds of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners\u2014and one of the few surviving physical crime scenes whose architecture later entered an international criminal case.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The judiciary presented the demolition as urban renewal. During an officially organized media tour on October 4, 35 reporters and photographers from roughly 20 domestic outlets were taken to the site as authorities declared the operation complete. The 60-hectare complex is to be redeveloped for residential, commercial, recreational and educational purposes; prison officials said roughly 50 hectares had been \u201cfreed\u201d for investors, while about 17 hectares controlled by the Prisons Organization were expected to be auctioned.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But the question is not whether Karaj needs redevelopment. It is why a site tied to mass executions, torture and enforced disappearance was razed without an independent forensic examination, international documentation mission or preservation process\u2014after years of warnings<\/a> that precisely such evidence was being destroyed.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\ud83d\udea8 Iran is demolishing Gohardasht Prison to erase evidence of its crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n

Today, authorities tore down watchtowers at a principal site of the #1988Massacre<\/a>, where political prisoners were executed after minute-long "hearings".<\/p>\n

The death corridor and execution\u2026 https:\/\/t.co\/rs0xbCWJ79<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/fzupux4Q4m<\/a><\/p>\n

— M. Hanif Jazayeri (@HanifJazayeri) October 4, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n