Iranian prison guards reportedly assaulted prisoners in Tehran's Evin prison during an inspection on April 18, leaving 30 injured, including four seriously, and sparking outrage in Iran among activists and the prisoners’ families.
Prison authorities denied the allegations and reported that the inspection was routine. On April 22 families of prisoners protested outside President Hassan Rouhani's house, and on April 24 authorities fired the head of Iran's prisons.
Head of #Iran Prisons Organization in a TV interview denied any violence by guards at #Evin350. By @ManaNeyestani
Iranians both inside and outside the country are also posting photos of themselves with shaved heads to a Facebook page, "With Political Prisoners of Elvin's Section 350," Radio Free Europe reported.
The campaign began after Abdolfatah Soltani, a prominent jailed human rights lawyer who was reportedly among those assaulted in the Evin raid, was pictured online with a shaved head.
Iranians posted their photos using the hashtag #سرفراز, Farsi for "proud."
