📸 Allegation of rape in an Intelligence Ministry detention center A new account by Gazal Marzeban from prison

Gazal Marzeban, a trans woman detained in Evin Prison, has reported her experience of sexual assault in one of the Intelligence Ministry detention facilities in a letter.

Marzeban says that after her arrest in Ordibehesht 1402, she was transferred to that detention center, where she was raped, and then threatened with being told to keep quiet about the incident.

In the text of this letter, published by the Iran Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), it is also mentioned that she said her efforts to file a complaint were met with obstruction and threats.

This is not the first report of sexual violence against detainees in Iran. Amnesty International previously documented 45 cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence against detainees of the “Women, Life, Freedom” protests. In 16 of those cases, detainees had reported experiencing rape.

Marzeban, who was sentenced this past Khordad to 9 years and 8 months in prison, says that the psychological effects of what happened to her in the detention center still…