Posted on 07/27/2007 7:14:07 AM PDT by nuconvert
Activists' Parents Accuse Tehran of Torturing Their Sons
July 26, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Robert Tait in Tehran
Fears that Iran is systematically mistreating political prisoners and dissidents have been further fuelled after the parents of three detained student activists claimed their sons had been tortured.
In a letter to the country's judiciary chief, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the parents alleged that the students have suffered a catalogue of physical and psychological abuses since being incarcerated in Tehran's Evin prison in May.
The students - Majid Tavakoli, Ahmad Ghasaban and Ehsan Mansouri - were among eight from Amir Kabir University arrested for allegedly publishing anti-Islamic articles in campus magazines. The arrests followed a series of crackdowns on activists at the university, where students staged angry protests last December against Iran's Islamist president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The arrested students claim the articles were forgeries aimed at discrediting pro-democracy activists. But their parents say they have been pressured to make false confessions and have called on Mr Shahroudi to secure their release. The letter - published on some opposition websites - claims the students have been subjected to prolonged interrogations, severe beatings, sleep deprivation and threats against their families while in the prison's notorious Section 209, where political detainees are held under the supervision of the intelligence ministry. It lists 15 separate counts of physical abuse, including being forced to stand on one leg for prolonged periods, being struck on their handcuffs to cause severe swelling and being lashed with cables.
Interrogators are also said to have falsely told the students that their relatives have suffered heart attacks or lost their jobs due to their imprisonment.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
pong
Ayatollahs Mullahs torture? Nahh. can’t be true, they are men of God. Ask Jimmah Carter.
Who woulda’ thunk it?
Putting underwear on their heads, I’m sure. Or maybe they force them to strip nude and get up onto human pyramids, while pictures are taken of them.
Dead silence from Ted Kennedy about these newest revelations. Besides, NOTHING could be as bad as Abu Ghraib.
Paging Amnesty International, Hello, anybody? (cue crickets)
Ping.
C’mon ROK. Get in the game. I’ve heard many tales from Viet Nam vets of how brutally effective the ROK is.
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