franian MP claims sexual abuse of protesters has been proved I World news... http:IIwww.guardian .co.uk/wor1d/2OO9/aug/27Iiran-ayatol1ah-khani rei-u...
guardlancouk
Iranian MP claims sexual abuse of
protesters has been proved
Comments by member of investigative team are first official
acknowledgement prisoners were violated
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Iranian claims sexual abuse of protesters has been proved I World z ws.. http://wwwguardiaacoulc/world/2009/aug/27/iran-ayatollah-khan'cmi-u
Mark Tran
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 27 August 2009 15.08 BST
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Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah All Khamenei, said the election violence in June was
calculated by the country's enemies. Photograph: AP/IRIB
An Iranian MP said today there is proof that some reformists were sexually abused in
prison after the disputed presidential election in June.
“Raping of some detainees through baton and soda bottle has been proved to us,” the
unnamed member of the investigative committee was quoted as saying.
His comments are the first official acknowledgment that prisoners were violated. Until
now, Iran's leaders had dismissed such opposition claims as mischief-making.
One of the defeated reformist presidential candidates, Mehdi Karroubi, has alleged that
some of those arrested after mass demonstrations were raped.
Yesterday Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , rebuked opposition leaders
for calling attention to alleged abuses of detainees.
Without directly naming anyone, Khamenei criticised them for highlighting claims of
mistreatment in Kahrizak prison, one of the sites where protesters have been held .
“Some ignore defacing of the system while highlighting the issue of Kahrizak,” he was
quoted as saying by the state Islamic Republic News Agency. “This way of thinking is an
open unfairness.”
Earlier this month, Iran's police chief admitted that protesters who were arrested after
the election had been tortured while in custody in Kahrizak, south-west Tehran. But
General Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam denied that any of the detainees had died as a
result and said the head of the detention centre had been dismissed and jailed.
The allegations of prison mistreatment have been a lightning rod for criticism of the
regime, with senior Iranian political figures calling for a full investigation.
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Iranian Ml ' claims sexual abuse of protesters has been proved World news.., http://www.guardian.co.uWworld/2009/aug/27/iran-ayatollah-khanwt-u...
The latest comments from one of the MPs on the investigating commillee are likely to
intensify the pressure on the regime as it confronts the gravest threat to its authority
since the 1979 revolution that toppled the Shah.
In another sign of the confusion within ruling circles, Khamenei expressed doubt over
claims by conservative hardliners that opposition leaders were backed by the west, in
direct contradiction to charges set out during recent mass trials.
The comments yesterday came as a surprising contrast to the assertions from other
Iranian leaders, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , that the US, Britain and
others played a direct role in fomenting unrest and violence during the disputed
presidential election in June. His remarks come at a time when more than 100
opposition figures have appeared in trials that have been denounced by human rights
groups as show trials involving forced confessions.
Speaking to a group of students last night, Khamenei said: “I do not accuse leaders of
the recent events of being stooges of aliens, including the US and Britain, since it was
not proved for me.”
Khamenei also said the judiciary should try the detainees based on strong evidence and
not on “rumours” as the basis for prosecution. But Iran's supreme leader, who has come
under unprecedented criticism after his backing of Ahmadinejad, added that the unrest
was calculated by Iran's enemies “whether or not its leaders know”.
In the latest trial on Tuesday, an Iranian prosecutor demanded the “full punishment”
for a senior reformist figure, potentially meaning the death penalty. Saeed Hajjarian, a
key figure in the pro-democracy reform programme under former president
Mohammad Khatami, was accused along with others of a long list of charges. They
included acting against national security, stirring up unrest, having contacts with British
intelligence and insulting Iran's supreme leader.
Hajjarian, who uses a wheelchair after an assassination allempt that left him disabled,
was reported as saying he had “made major mistakes during the election by presenting
incorrect analyses. I apologise to the Iranian nation for those mistakes.”
Khatami has dismissed the confessions as fabrications, having been obtained under
extraordinary conditions. “Such claims are sheer lies and false,” Khatami, who backed
the main reformist candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, in the election, was quoted as
saying by the ILNA news agency.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009
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