Political prisoners are being released; why are their personal belongings not being returned?

🔸Mobile phones, laptops, books, identity documents, and personal items such as watches and rings are among the items that a number of political and security prisoners say were confiscated by officers during their arrest or during searches of their homes and workplaces.

🔸However, in many cases, these items have not been returned to their owners even after the individuals were released or after the judicial process ended. Some political and civil prisoners, in interviews with Radio Farda, have described similar experiences.

🔸Based on Article 148 of Iran’s Criminal Procedure Code, seized items and property during investigations and preliminary proceedings must be returned to the rightful person once they are no longer necessary for investigations or for the continuation of the judicial process; provided that there is no dispute over their ownership and that the items are not subject to lawful confiscation or destruction.

🔸Musa Barzin, an attorney and legal expert, recommends: “First, they should raise the issue again with the court. After that, there is no other option besides filing a criminal complaint against the institution that carried out the confiscation.”

🔸So far, Iran’s judiciary and the Islamic Republic’s intelligence and security institutions have not responded in a specific and public manner to these accounts of seized items not being returned.

🔸Meanwhile, the growing number of similar accounts on social media, along with testimonies and personal experiences, has raised questions: where is the line between the temporary seizure of property for investigations and unlawful detention or the appropriation of prisoners’ personal belongings?

🔸You can read the full report on the Radio Farda website.