Iran’s Secret Warehouse Prison: Torture and Death Sentences Uncovered

A chilling investigation has uncovered a secret detention center in Shahin Shahr, Isfahan province, where Iranian authorities, under the management of the Revolutionary Guards, subject hundreds of prisoners to systematic torture and inhumane conditions. Disguised as an industrial warehouse and labelled a “prison employment site,” the facility operates without oversight, hidden from local residents and nearby workers. A satellite image reveals a large warehouse with a small, barbed-wire-enclosed yard, its precise location withheld for security reasons due to the regime’s efforts to conceal its existence.

Prisoners endure gruelling conditions, particularly during Iran’s blistering summers, with no cooling or ventilation systems. Water and electricity are cut off for three days each week, exacerbating the already dire environment. Food is minimal, often limited to two loaves of bread and poor-quality rations daily. Medical care is nonexistent, with guards distributing tranquilizers and methadone to subdue inmates, fostering dependency rather than providing treatment. Each morning at 5 a.m., around 100 prisoners are transported for forced labor, while those left behind face relentless coercion and exhaustion, denied rest or basic amenities.

Many detainees, having served significant portions of their sentences, should be eligible for conditional release. Instead, Isfahan’s prosecutor exploits legal loopholes, imposing new charges for minor infractions and issuing additional death sentences, trapping prisoners in a cycle of fear and repression. “Reports from Shahin Shahr prison paint a disturbing picture of a hidden and illegal detention site… a place for added deprivation, forced labor, and psychological and physical pressure,” a human rights group stated, urging international intervention to address these violations of global standards, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ prohibitions on torture and arbitrary detention.

The facility’s exposure adds to growing evidence of systemic abuse in Iran’s detention network. In 2024, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Isfahan Province Prisons Director-General Alireza Babaei Farsani for overseeing torture at Isfahan Central Prison, where rapper Toomaj Salehi was coerced into a false confession during the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests. These findings underscore the urgent need for global pressure to investigate and dismantle Iran’s clandestine prison system.