Moussavi Claims Government Link to Rapes

          
          Moussavi Claims Iran's Oovernncnt Is LASCI to Rapes of Detairces - N. ,. lttp://www.r tin 'cs.coni'2OO9/O8/19/world/middleeast/19iranltml?fta—...
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          August 19, 2009
          Moussavi Claims Government Link to Rapes
          By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
          TEHRAN (AP) — The opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi on Tuesday accused “establishment agents”
          of raping and torturing prisoners, adding a prominent voice to critics who had made the charge and openly
          defying hard-liners who had denounced the claims as slander.
          “Those who committed the crimes were establishment agents,” Mr. Moussavi said in a statement posted on
          his Web site.
          He said “the use of force and money” could not silence the accusations, but only a “quick, open and precise
          investigation of complaints by detained protesters and their families.”
          The statement lent weight to the charges by a reformist cleric and presidential candidate, Mehdi Karroubi,
          that some men and women detained in the crackdown following the disputed June 12 presidential election
          had been raped while in government custody. His charges, and online allegations by anonymous victims,
          have shocked many Iranians, for whom rape is generally a taboo subject.
          Government officials have acknowledged that some detainees were tortured, but have vehemently denied
          any sexual assaults.
          Also on Tuesday, a reformist Web site reported that two prominent opposition activists had been
          hospitalized, one after being beaten by his jailers for refusing to attend trial, the other after a nine-day
          hunger strike.
          Feizollah Arabsorkhi, a prominent member of a reformist political party, was severely beaten by his jailers
          at Evin prison when he refused to attend his trial, the Una Green Wave Camp Web site said.
          He was sent to Tehran's Baghiatollah al-Azam military hospital, which is controlled by the Revolutionary
          Guards , an elite military unit that led the crackdown against protesters.
          Ahmad Zeidabadi, a journalist and former student leader, is also in poor health after being forced to break
          his hunger strike on Monday, the Web site reported. He stopped eating after his Aug. 8 court appearance.
          Mr. Zeidabadi leads a group of reformists who were once members of Iran's largest student organization,
          the Office for Fostering Unity.
          Hundreds of people have been arrested since the election and the opposition says some of them died in
          prison from beatings and other abuse.
          The two hospitalized activists are among more than 100 prominent opposition supporters who have been
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          Moussavi Claims Iran 's Ooverzmcnt Is L4nkecl to Rapes of Detairces - N. ,. ltp://www ,r tin 'cs ,con i '2OO9/O8/19/world . /middleeast /19iranltml?fta— ,..
          put on trial this month on accusations of plotting to overthrow the clerical leadership through the protests.
          Iran's top opposition leaders, meanwhile, said they were joining a new grass-roots reformist movement to
          present a united front against the government. The movement, Green Path of Hope, created by Mr.
          Moussavi, seeks to be a rallying point for the opposition to continue its campaign against the government.
          An aide to Mr. Moussavi said that Mr. Karroubi and former President Mohammad Khatami were joining
          the movement.
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