In this week’s episode, I spoke with Hadi Ghaemi, founder of the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) about something the world is not paying nearly enough attention to: The fate of Iran’s political prisoners.

“I am really worried that the regime feeling the insecurity, and the existential threat it feels right now [that] it will turn to political prisoners and massacre them to make sure they’re not there to play a constructive role in the future of the country.”Hadi Ghaemi, founder Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI)

With internet access cut once again by the regime, and the city under siege by U.S. and Israeli bombing, direct communication with prisoners inside jails including the notorious Evin prison is nearly impossible. But Hadi tells me that what he’s been hearing through interlocutors on the ground is chilling. Both Evin and Greater Tehran prisons have reportedly been handed over to the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guard’s special forces — units known for their brutality — with warnings that any unrest from the detainees will be met with lethal force. Shoot-to-kill orders aren’t just rumored on the streets; they may now define life behind bars for thousand.

Inside those walls are not only well-known figures, like Nobel peace prize winner Narges Mohammadi, but what Hadi calls the country’s “Evin University;” academics, labor leaders, students, women’s rights activists, and thousands of young protesters swept up in January’s deadly crackdown.

Hadi estimates that as many as 50,000 people were rounded up and imprisoned after the Islamic Republic regime conducted its mass killings of civilians back in January; the most violent attack on the population since the inception of the regime back in 1979. Many represent the intellectual and civic backbone of a future Iran. History makes the danger painfully clear — the regime has massacred political prisoners before when it felt existentially threatened.

Meanwhile, U.S. and Israeli strikes have targeted the regime’s security infrastructure that often doubles as detention sites for people who have been arrested for peacefully protesting the government. In this episode, we also discussed dual nationals— long used as bargaining chips — who Hadi believes are now vulnerable to being moved, hidden, or worse.

So what can people watching in horror at home do?

“We should use our voice,” Ghaemi says. “I would hope that the people who care will use their social media presence and voice to bring up the issue of political prisoners.”

Amplify their names. Raise the issue. Pressure foreign governments to prioritize civilian and prisoner protection. In moments like this, silence is not neutral.

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