Iran Detainees Tortured, Killed: Opposition Leader

AFP
TEHRAN, Iran



Karroubi charged that several protesters were
tortured in the Kahrizak detention centre in Tehran

An Iranian opposition leader made fresh claims on Saturday that several protesters jailed in the June election unrest died in prisons after they were tortured, beaten and made to crawl like animals.

"Some youngsters who were chanting slogans were beaten in such a way that they lost their lives," said Mehdi Karroubi in his newspaper Etemad Melli on Saturday.

The reformist cleric charged that several protesters were tortured in the Kahrizak detention centre, south of Tehran, before it was ordered closed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"Unfortunately some of the people who took part in the protests were tortured," Karroubi said in a separate claim on the website of his political party, also called Etemad Melli.

"I heard they (security forces) stripped people in Kahrizak and made them crawl like animals with prison guards riding on their backs."

He said it was a "shame" for the Islamic republic to indulge in such tactics as "some of those arrested were forced to be naked and piled upon each other" in the prison cells.

"I also heard that while they were being tortured, the protesters were forced to curse their mothers," he added.

Karroubi's allegations have added to an already tense political situation in Iran which is battling its worst crisis since the Islamic revolution in 1979.

The June 12 re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad triggered massive street protests in Tehran by supporters of opposition leaders, and in the ensuing violence about 30 people were killed, according to officials.

The opposition claims that 69 people were killed in the protests which rocked the pillars of the Islamic regime and deeply divided the nation's clergy and ruling elites.

An Iranian MP on a parliamentary panel probing allegations of detainee abuses suggested that the opposition toll figure had been inflated as it also contained the names of protesters who have gone missing.

The political turmoil has exposed even Khamenei to criticism for his unwavering backing for Ahmadinejad.

Several opposition websites reported that a group of former MPs have written to the powerful Assembly of Experts which supervises the activities of the supreme leader, urging it to ask whether Khamenei was fit to lead the country.

"The supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran has responsibilities and he supervises all the three branches... we call upon you to act according to article 111 of the constitution," they said of a clause which calls for the supreme leader to be dismissed if he is found incapable of doing his duties.

It was unclear how many ex-MPs endorsed the statement posted on opposition websites, but it was the first such direct attack on Khamenei. No Iranian news agencies carried the statement by the ex-MPs.

Karroubi, who came a distant fourth in the June election, has made sustained accusations against the security forces of abusing detainees.

Earlier this week he alleged that some male and female detainees were "savagely raped" in prison. Parliament speaker Ali Larijani dismissed the claim.

Iranian hardliners have demanded that Karroubi provide proof of his accusations or prepare himself for severe punishment.

Karroubi said his camp was ready to answer the questions of his critics, and called on them to gather in front of his newspaper office later on Saturday.

He also urged his supporters to gather on Monday at the same place where he would address them on his claims about prisoner abuses, his party website said.

Source: Agence France-Presse