Larijani: Prison rape claims ‘sheer lies’

          
          Larijani: Prison rape claims ‘sheer lies' lttp://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=103279&secdonid=351020101
          d Aug 12, 2009 115:33
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          Larijani: Prison rape claims ‘sheer lies'
          Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08: 18:07 CMI
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          Amid questions raised by an opposition leader on
          sexual assault on prisoners detained in the post-election
          protests, Iran's Majlis Speaker dismisses the
          allegations.
          “Claims of sexual abuse of detained protestors are
          sheer lies,” Ali Larijani said on Wednesday.
          “Following a precise and comprehensive inquiry into
          (the treatment of) detainees at Kahrizak and Evin
          prisons, no cases of rape or sexual abuse were found,”
          he added.
          If defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, who
          first raised the prisoners' abuse issue, could present
          evidence of such outrages, then the Majlis would
          investigate them, Larijani said.
          The issue of the alleged torture and abuse of protesters, whe had been detained after the June 12 presidential
          vote, took a new turn after Karroubi, a leading Reformist cleric, raised questions about the sexual abuse of
          detainees.
          In a letter - dated July 29 but revealed 10 days later - to the powerful head of the Assembly of Experts and the
          Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, Karroubi urged a probe into various abuses, including
          ‘jail rape' reports, according to which male and female detainees in Kahrizak are said to have been subjected to
          serious sexual abuse.
          “The people who informed me about these events hold sensitive positions in the country ... these officials told me
          of the things that happened in the detention centers that even if one count is true, it would be a tragedy for the
          Islamic Republic... and it would overshadow the sins of many dictatorships including that of the deposed Shah,”
          Karroubi said in his letter.
          The letter prompted Larijani to assign a special parliamentary committee to seriously probe into the allegations.
          In tis Wednesday speech, Larijari warned politicians to ‘be cautious about claims' and urged them not to
          publicize allegations before investigation.
          Ayatollah Rafsanjani, in a Tuesday meeting with judiciary lawyers, touched upon the issue by insisting that
          respecting detainees' rights is essential for passing a fair and just verdict.
          The developments come as courts are conducting televised mass trials of hundreds of opposition figures,
          protesters and journalists on various charges, including that of ‘plotting to topple the system' in the wake of
          President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election in June.
          The official vote results were met by an outpouring of anger by supporters of defeated presidential candidates
          Karroubi and Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who alleged that serious ‘allot rigging' had taken place and took to the streets
          in massive protests to press their demand for an independent enquiry and a re-run.
          The crackdown on the demonstrations, which were held despite bans by the Interior Ministry, led to the arrests
          of theusands of protesters, many of whom have been released.
          According to official figures, at least 30 people were killed in the post-vote unrest. The opposition, however, puts
          the number at about 70.
          The Kahrizak detention camp south of Tehran gained particular notoriety for the maltreatment of detainees and
          the police have admitted that corporal punishment and other abuses had taken place there. It has been ordered
          shut in the past weeks and a number of its guards and directors are said to have been ‘punished'.
          SF/ZAP/AKM
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