According to media reports, Iranian police has established several new lockups in all around the country. Opposition groups link this development to the upcoming presidential election. On June, Islamic Republic will hold the next presidential election to find the successor of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. High-ranking officials of Iran’s security forces have anticipated “riots and seditions”.
Iran police chief Ahmadi Moghadam refuses these charges. He says this movement is a portion of a long-time-going plan for restructuring current old lockups and prisons of the country. “Of course, this action has nothing to do with the next presidential election. All activities of Iranian police regarding setting up new prisons are approved by governmental organizations, which audit our plans.”
Ahmadi Moghadam believes that foreign-based media are trying to destabilize the current conditions of Islamic Republic ahead of presidential election. “We urge people to be careful about the plots of Western media, which have hostile policies against our nation and Islamic Republic’s foundation.”
In 2009 presidential election, millions of people in Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz and the other major cities of Iran held demonstrations to protests against the result of election. In that time, politicians and analysts accused the local government of manipulating the result of election. Demonstrations left many people and security forces dead, and resulted into arrests of hundreds of protesters. It’s worth mentioning that, a large number of those political prisoners are still in custody.