Female prisoners were beaten by guards in Iran’s Urmia after they protested and set fire to blankets following restrictions on their movements.

A new prison warden imposed restrictions recently on the pretext that female prisoners were not attending Quran classes. He limited the time inmates could spent outdoors and their movements inside the prison.

Hengaw human rights monitoring group reported that after guards assaulted the prisoners, they were forced to sign a pledge on Friday “not to participate in any protest.”

There are many Kurd inmates in Urmia’s prison. The northeastern city has a mixed Kurdish and Azari population, and its prison also houses Kurdish political activists.

A report by another Iranian human rights group recently said Iran’s intelligence services maintain “secret prisons” in the region and torture and rape political detainees.

Assaulting prisoers, torture and rape have been reported before in Iran’s prisons.