I’ve covered Iran long enough to know that there’s usually an ulterior motive behind anything done by the mullahocracy in Tehran. OK, so how many governments don’t have ulterior motives, you might ask? Well, there’s seldom anything good in the Iranian regime’s motives. Except if you’re talking about their semantics: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the closure of Kahrizak prison recently because it wasn’t up to “standards”; human-rights groups note the deaths of several inmates after being tortured.

Ward 209 of Evin Prison is reserved for the political dissidents, journalists, bloggers, politically minded — perceived enemies of the regime. After the death of the son of a regime insider, members of parliament inspected the prison and 140 detainees not suspected of “serious offenses” were released. But, reports the Guardian, that leaves at least 150 political prisoners behind:

“Many prisoners are said to be under severe pressure to sign confessions admitting involvement in a foreign-backed plot to topple the regime. This week, the Guardian reported how Evin inmates recently released claimed they had been beaten, abused and held in overcrowded conditions. Ramin Ghahremani is said to have died from a blood clot after being suspended upside down from the jail ceiling, where he was taken after surrendering himself to the police.

Concern over the detainees triggered a fresh crisis after the death last week of Mohsen Rouholamini ‑ the son of a prominent scientist and regime insider ‑ reportedly from meningitis. Rouholamini’s family says he developed an infection after injuries sustained under torture were untreated. Another prisoner, Mohammad Kamrani, 18, died in hospital of meningitis after being taken from Evin. However, it has emerged that both had been previously been held in Kahrizak, where they were among detainees crammed into an underground makeshift cell after arrest during a demonstration on 9 July.

Norooz, the official website of the main reformist party, the Islamic Participation Front, said prisoners had been doused with water before being beaten with hoses and cables, though the reports could not be independently confirmed.”

Mir Hossein Mousavi, who likely didn’t really lose to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in presidential elections last month, said, “This is not what we expect from the Islamic Republic.” Iran watchers, though, are not the least bit surprised.