Rape Claims Eimrge from Iran Prisons. CBS News http://www.cbsriews.com'stories/2009/08/1O/world/main5229665.shthul
TEIIIRAN, Iran, Aug. 10, 2009
Rape Claims Emerge from Iran Prisons
Opposition Leader Says Detained Protesters Accuse Jailers of Abuse
Iranian cleric Mahdi Karroubi, one of two
defeated pro-reform candidates in the
disputed June 12 presidential election,
pictured in this file photo from April 28,
said he has received reports that male and
female detained protesters in Iran have been
savagely raped by theirjailers. (AP
Photo/Yahid Salemi)
He said such crimes, if proven true, would
officials who made the rape claims.
(AP) An franian opposition leader said Sunday that
detained protesters are alleging male and female prisoners
were savagely raped by their jailers to the point of physical
and mental damage.
Mahdi Karroubi, one of two defeated pro-reform
candidates in the disputed June 12 presidential election, said
he has received the reports of rapes from former military
commanders and other senior officials and he called for an
investigation.
“A number of detainees have stated that some female
detainees were so severely raped that their genitals were
damaged. Others savagely raped young boys so that they
suffer from depression and serious physical and mental
damage,” Karroubi said in a letter posted on his Web site.
“disgrace” ban's Islamic ruling system. He did not name any
Senior police and judiciary officials acknowledged over the weekend that opposition detainees have
been abused in prison and called for those responsible to be punished, apparently in an effort to calm
public outrage over the mistreatment and death of prisoners.
Both the opposition and some vocal critics within the government's conservative support base have
railed against mistreatment and deaths of prisoners, presenting another obstacle to silencing
postelection unrest. The opposition claims the election was rigged in favor of President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad and that pro-reform challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi was the true winner.
Iran has confirmed at least 30 people have died in the country's worst unrest since the 1979 Islamic
Revolution, though human rights activists say the toll is likely far higher. The country's chief prosecutor
said about 200 protesters and opposition figures are still detained.
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Rape Claims Eimrge from Iran Prisons. CBS News http://www.cbsriews.com'stories/2009/08/1O/world/main5229665.sltil
Karroubi sent the letter to powerful cleric and former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who has
backed reformists in the election dispute. In it, he asks Rafsanjani to bring the mailer to the attention of
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He also called on Rafsanjani to direct one of the clerical bodies he leads to form a committee to
investigate the claims. Rafsanjani heads the Assembly of Experts, an elected body of 86 clerics whose
official role is to oversee the supreme leader's performance.
Karroubi said he did not send the letter to Ahmadinejad because he considers his presidency
illegitimate.
The mistreatment of detainees arrested in the crackdown on protesters has extended far beyond the
reformist camp. Influential figures in ban's clerical hierarchy have also condemned the abuses and the
three deaths known to have taken place at the Kahrizak prison, which is at the center of the abuse
claims.
Iran's prosecutor general called Sunday for those responsible for mistreatment to be punished and said
protesters weren't even meant to be taken to Kahrizak prison, located on the southern outskirts of the
capital, Tehran.
The country's police chief Gen. Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam on Sunday also acknowledged protesters
were beaten by their jailers at the same facility but maintained that the deaths in the prison were caused
by a virus, not abuse.
The head of the prison has since been arrested along with three guards there and the prison has been
closed.
About 100 of the detained opposition figures and protesters are on trial for charges including trying to
overthrow the government. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called it a “show trial” in a weekend
interview and said the U.S. supports the opposition.
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