Middle East
Women
Minors
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Social ties
Iran
The incident on August 18 marked the latest decline in conditions at a prison activists have long described as a “cemetery,” a place where Iran sends its most marginalized women to vanish from public life.
Middle East
Foreign prisoners
Drugs
Death penalty
Iran
The death sentences of six incarcerated people previously convicted on drug-related charges were carried out in Bandar Abbas Prison.
Crises
Middle East
Violence
Social ties
Iran
Iranian authorities beat several political prisoners during the transfer of more than 600 detainees back to Evin Prison.
Crises
Middle East
Foreign prisoners
Drugs
Death penalty
Iran
Human rights groups have expressed serious concern over the growing number of executions of Afghan migrants in Iran, warning of rising injustice and lack of fair trials.
Crises
Middle East
Discipline
Violence
Iran
Guards at Qezelhesar Prison in Karaj violently raided the political prisoners’ ward and executed two people, according to social media reports from a political prisoner.
Crises
Middle East
Discipline
Health
Material conditions
Social ties
Egypt
Mohamed al-Beltagy launched an open-ended hunger strike in Badr 3 prison, slamming years of isolation, medical neglect, and systematic abuse of incarcerated people.
Crises
Pre-trial detention
Minors
Middle East
Torture
Violence
Israel
Israeli prisons are a key element of the colonisation mechanism of the Palestinian people. A roundtable on this topic was held at the Assises pour la Palestine in April 2025, with the participation of Prison Insider. Read the highlights of this discussion.
Middle East
Foreign prisoners
Health
Mental health
Suicide
Lebanon
The suicide of a Syrian man in Lebanon’s Roumieh Central Prison has cast a new light on the dire conditions inside the country’s prisons, particularly medical neglect and the delay of trials.
Middle East
Foreign prisoners
Drugs
Death penalty
Iran
According to HRANA, the executed person was an Afghan national. His identity is currently being verified. Sources indicate that the incarcerated person had been arrested on drug-related charges and was later sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court.
Violent lives
Analysis
Inside Outside
Africa
North America
Pre-trial detention
South America
Asia
Europe
Middle East
Torture
Prison Insider, represented by Clara Grisot, contributed twelve compositions to the book InsideOutside to articulate, in a few words, the current challenges of prison life. Ninth piece: torture.
Middle East
Access to legal rights
Death penalty
Torture
Social ties
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior has reported that journalist Turki al-Jasser was executed after spending seven years in prison on charges of treason, collaboration with foreign entities, financing terrorism and jeopardising national security and unity.
Crises
Minors
Middle East
Drugs
Death penalty
Social ties
Iran
Iran executed at least 163 imprisoned people in May, marking a 143 percent increase from the 67 executions recorded in May 2024, according to a human rights organization.
Women
Middle East
Suicide
Violence
Saudi Arabia
Girls and young women describe facing flogging and abuse in so-called “care homes” after arguing with their fathers or husbands.
Middle East
Foreign prisoners
Justice
Material conditions
Social ties
Iran
Iran slammed France for filing a case against it at the International Court of Justice over the detention of two French nationals in conditions Paris denounced as inhumane. Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris have been able to receive only four consular visits during their three-year detention.
Crises
Women
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Violence
Israel
Israeli occupation authorities are reportedly holding two Palestinian women, both five months pregnant, under harsh conditions at Damon Prison, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club reported.
Pre-trial detention
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Libya
Libyan Crimes Watch has revealed the death of Faisal Awad Abshish, detained at the Garnada military prison, at the hospital in the city of Al-Bayda after his health deteriorated due to medical negligence during his detention.
Middle East
Health
Overcrowding
Violence
Iraq
Justice Ministry dismissed viral footage showing incarcerated person abuse inside Baghdad’s al-Taji prison as “outdated.” “Disciplinary and legal measures were taken against both the inmates and staff involved,” ministry spokesperson Ahmed Laibi Abdul Hussein stated.
Crises
Women
Middle East
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Social ties
Religion
Iran
Blood runs down prison corridors. Sewage seeps beneath cell doors. Drugged women drift in and out of consciousness. The women’s ward of Sepidar prison, in southern Ahvaz, houses around 400 women, mostly Arab, denied even the most basic human dignities afforded elsewhere in Iran’s penal system.