11/18/2009 Iran detention centre doctor commits
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Iran detention centre doctor commits
suicide : IRNA - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wed Nov 18, 2009 7:27am EST
TEHRAN (Reuters) - A doctor who died at the Kahrizak detention center,
closed after the deaths there of several protesters against June's disputed
election, committed suicide, state media said on Wednesday.
Iran's parliament has begun an investigation into the death last week of
Ramin Pourandarjani, who was serving his military service as a doctor at the
facility.
“The death of Ramin Pourandarjani was the result of suicide,” the official
news agency quoted police chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam as saying.
“The doctor had complaints of being threatened with a five-year jail term and
had lost his spirit,” he said, referring to an apparent will Pourandarjani had
written.
“He committed suicide after he was summoned to the court.”
Kahrizak was closed in July on orders of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei after at least three people, arrested during the post-election
unrest, died in custody there.
Thousands of people were arrested in the protests after the June presidential
election which led to the victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Moderate
opposition candidates said the vote was rigged, a charge that Khamenei and
the government have rejected.
The protests have proved the toughest domestic test to Iranian authorities
since the Islamic revolution of 1979.
Reformist opposition websites reported last week that the death initially was
thought to be a result of suicide.
A member of parliament's helth committee said on Tuesday death due to a
heart attack was unlikely because of no previous health problems and
Pourandarjani's age, said to have been 26.
(Writing by Reza Derakhshi, Editing by Michael Roddy)
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