Karroubi: Rape witx ss disappeared http://erig lishniowjcanç ,com'aitc le/id/26012
Thu, 3 Sep 2009 03:33 AM
Karroubi: Rape witness disappeared
In a statement released by the National Trust Party, its head Mahdi Karroubi has mentioned that one of the witnesses of rape in Iranian prisons has suddenly
disappeared.
This statement which was released on the official website of the party held the former Prosecutor General of Teliran Judge Mortazavi accountable for anything “foul” that might happen to the
witness or the family of the witness. Following the comments made by judge Ghazi Moghadami which had called Karrouhi' a claims of prisoner abuse as “baseless”, Karroubi' a bureau released
a statement with the aim of “shedding light” on a number of issues.
The statement argues that the judicial dossier of his banned newspaper Etemad Mdli was taken over by judge Ghazi Moghadami because the previous judge had refused to rule in favour of the
closure of this newspaper. “This is why Mr. Ghazi Moghadami had been chosen by Mr. Mortazavi to examine Mr. Karroubi's evidence regarding the rape of detainees” the statement continues.
According to the statement after Karroubi' a leaer to Hashemi Rafaanj ani had become public, initially the official from the judiciary who had been assigned to investigate the allegations of rape
had been moved by the victim's account of the trauma. However after Karroubi's newspaper made the horrific details of Taraneh Mouaavi' a death public, Mortazavi ordered closure of the
newspaper and Ghazi Moghadami was assigned to handle Karroubi'a allegations of rape.
According to the released statement, midway through a long meeting between the rape victim, Ghazi Moghadami and another individual which took place in Karroubi'a office, the victim stormed
out of the meeting room and complained to Karroubi about the behaviour of the judicial officials. “The victim claims that the questions he was asked were not aimed at upholding his lost rights
but all the efforts were aimed at condemning him [ the victim] or concluding that he had been an instrument at the hands of politicians who had lured him [ into complaining].”
Karroubi's bureau argues that even though the rape victim had agreed to undergo medical examination, the officials' inability to restore confidence to the victim and their behaviour had scared
the complainant. Affected by this conduct the rape witness decides to make public his experience with the judicial officials and published his story on the official webaite of the National Trust
Party.
The statement argues that “not only is the intention of certain officials from the judiciary not to help the victims of abuse in prisons, but is instead to ignore the problem and therefore after this
type of behaviour Karroubi refused to meet with these gentlemen and wrote a letter to the new head of Judiciary Sadegh Larijani in which he requested the formation of a neutral committee to
investigate the events following the elections [ in June].”
According to the statement officials from the judiciary had visited the house of the victim and had cited the details of the victim's experience to his father which had caused him great distress.
“Neighbourhood inquiries were aimed at questioning the integrity of the victim and denouncing [ the abused] .“ “The conduct of the judicial officials was so foul and repugnant that the victim has
been missing for a while and there is no news of the rape witness,” continues the
statement.
The statement ends with holding Mortazavi and his representatives responsible for any foul that might happen to the victim or the family.
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