Iran protesters ‘tortured and killed’ in prison as body is dumped outside family’s home
1/20/2018 7:09:49 AM
Seyed Shahab Abtahi’s body was dumped outside his father’s house three days after his arrest
Hannah Lucinda Smith, Istanbul
The Times, January 19 2018 - Iranians who took part in anti-regime demonstrations are being tortured and killed in prison, human rights groups say.
The body of Seyed Shahab Abtahi, 20, was dumped outside his father’s house in the western city of Arak on January 5, three days after he was detained by security forces, according to an opposition group. He was covered in injuries that appeared to have been caused by baton blows. Three other men, named as Hossein Qaderi, 30, Sarou Ghahremani, 24, and Kianoush Zandi, 26, died under torture in the central prison of Sanandaj, in the Kurdistan province in eastern Iran.
Fears are growing for the thousands of people arrested in protests over New Year.
Thousands of people have been arrested since small provincial protests over rising food prices erupted into a nationwide uprising late last month.
Mahmoud Sadeghi, a reformist member of the Iranian parliament, said that 3,700 were in prison. The People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran, an opposition group based in Paris, claimed that the number was as high as 8,000.
The former president and hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , who has grown increasingly critical of the regime since being barred from standing in elections last year, was arrested on January 4, accused of “inciting unrest”.
The New York-based Centre for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has gathered evidence that some of detainees are being pressured into confessing to drug crimes. At least two, Vahid Heydari, 22 and Sina Ghanbari, 23, died while in police custody and were reported by the authorities to be drug addicts who had committed suicide. One of Mr Heydari’s relatives who saw his body said there was a deep gash to the side of his head, which looked like it had been caused by a blow from an axe.
“He was busy working. He was not an addict. What they are saying about him is untrue,” the relative said.
Amnesty International reported that a prison of the northeastern city of Mashhad had carried out an amputation by guillotine on Wednesday. A prisoner, 34, who is named only as A. Kh, was sentenced to the punishment six years ago after being convicted of theft. Such punishments are regularly meted out in the Iranian justice system, which is based on Islamic Sharia law.
“Meting out such unspeakably cruel punishments is not justice and serves to highlight the Iranian authorities’ complete disregard for human dignity. There is no place for such brutality in a robust criminal justice system,” Magdalena Mughrabi, Amnesty’s deputy Middle East and north Africa director, said.
1/20/2018 7:09:49 AM
Seyed Shahab Abtahi’s body was dumped outside his father’s house three days after his arrest
Hannah Lucinda Smith, Istanbul
The Times, January 19 2018 - Iranians who took part in anti-regime demonstrations are being tortured and killed in prison, human rights groups say.
The body of Seyed Shahab Abtahi, 20, was dumped outside his father’s house in the western city of Arak on January 5, three days after he was detained by security forces, according to an opposition group. He was covered in injuries that appeared to have been caused by baton blows. Three other men, named as Hossein Qaderi, 30, Sarou Ghahremani, 24, and Kianoush Zandi, 26, died under torture in the central prison of Sanandaj, in the Kurdistan province in eastern Iran.
Fears are growing for the thousands of people arrested in protests over New Year.
Thousands of people have been arrested since small provincial protests over rising food prices erupted into a nationwide uprising late last month.
Mahmoud Sadeghi, a reformist member of the Iranian parliament, said that 3,700 were in prison. The People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran, an opposition group based in Paris, claimed that the number was as high as 8,000.
The former president and hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , who has grown increasingly critical of the regime since being barred from standing in elections last year, was arrested on January 4, accused of “inciting unrest”.
The New York-based Centre for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has gathered evidence that some of detainees are being pressured into confessing to drug crimes. At least two, Vahid Heydari, 22 and Sina Ghanbari, 23, died while in police custody and were reported by the authorities to be drug addicts who had committed suicide. One of Mr Heydari’s relatives who saw his body said there was a deep gash to the side of his head, which looked like it had been caused by a blow from an axe.
“He was busy working. He was not an addict. What they are saying about him is untrue,” the relative said.
Amnesty International reported that a prison of the northeastern city of Mashhad had carried out an amputation by guillotine on Wednesday. A prisoner, 34, who is named only as A. Kh, was sentenced to the punishment six years ago after being convicted of theft. Such punishments are regularly meted out in the Iranian justice system, which is based on Islamic Sharia law.
“Meting out such unspeakably cruel punishments is not justice and serves to highlight the Iranian authorities’ complete disregard for human dignity. There is no place for such brutality in a robust criminal justice system,” Magdalena Mughrabi, Amnesty’s deputy Middle East and north Africa director, said.
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