Suspicious death of Iranian student who knew too much about dissidents' prison torture

Martin Fletcher

RAMIN Pourandarjani was a brilliant medical student with a promising future, until he was found dead in a dormitory at Tehran police headquarters last week.

He is now the new cause celebre of the Iranian Opposition, with MPs and Western organisations demanding an investigation into the death of a man who knew too much.

The official cause of death for the physician is heart attack but there is evidence that regime officials drove him to suicide or murdered him because he witnessed the brutality used against opposition detainees after the disputed election in June.

Dr Pourandarjani, 26, attended a school for gifted children, graduated with distinction from the University of Tabriz and was doing his two-year national service at the Kahrizak detention centre in Tehran during the June protests.

Many detainees were beaten and at least three died of their injuries, including Mohsen Ruholamini, the son of a senior conservative politician. His death provoked such an outcry, even among the regime's sympathisers, that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, was forced to close Kahrizak on the pretext that its facilities were sub-standard.

The Supreme Council for National Security set up a special committee to investigate. Its report has not been published but what is purportedly a leaked page has been posted on the internet.

It says that "rape, mental and physical torture, malnourishment and inhuman treatment of the detainees have been confirmed" and it demands that those responsible be punished. The authenticity of the document cannot be confirmed.

Dr Pourandarjani examined many of the detainees, including Mr Ruholamini. Opposition websites claim that Dr Pourandarjani was detained for a week after Kahrizak was closed and forced to state that Mr Ruholamini had died of meningitis. He was released on bail and ordered to say nothing about what he had seen in the centre.
He was threatened with imprisonment and the removal of his medical licence.

One reputable website, Mowjcamp, said that Dr Pourandarjani later told MPs on the special committee that he had examined Mr Ruholamini two days before he died.

He said: "He was brought to me after being physically and severely tortured. He was in a grave physical condition and I had limited medical supplies, but I did my best to save him. It was then that I was threatened by the authorities of Kahrizak that if I disclose the cause of death and injuries of the detainees, I will cease to live."

More at the Australian

Amil Imani - Please sign "Help Stop the Slaughter of Iranian Freedom Seekers"

27 June

The life that God gives, no man should extinguish. The illegitimate mullahs presently ruling Iran blatantly violate this sacred covenant by shooting at a large number of peaceful demonstrators who are demanding nothing more than their God-Given-Right to liberty and pursuit of happiness. The mullahs and their mercenaries are wasting precious human life to maintain themselves in power through terrorizing the population.

Our hearts are bleeding watching how brutally the government agents are beating up the children and assault them in their dormitories at night while they are sleeping or invade the sanctuary of their homes to beat them up or arrest them. Regretfully, the ruling regime sees these actions as part of their sacred duty. They see any defiance to the supreme leader as defiance to God. They call the demonstrators who just want their voices to be heard "terrorists," “thugs” and “agents of foreign governments.” If they do not shoot people outright, they savagely attack them with axes, chains, batons and any other crude weapons they can get their hands on.

We call upon the free governments of the world, as well as all other businesses, organizations and individuals to enlist in a non-violent campaign of ending the reign of terror of the belligerent clerical regime. Governments should enact the following:

* Renounce the use of force for ending the impasse.

* Declare unequivocally the commitment to respect the territorial integrity of Iran, as well as the rights of the Iranians to decide, through a democratic process, all matters pertaining to their life and country.

* Initiate, without delay or equivocation, a comprehensive program of assistance to all democratic Iranian opposition groups, both within as well as outside of Iran, in their struggle to accomplish the regime change themselves.

* Proclaim wide and far, the cardinal reason for taking these measures against the Mullahs' reign of terror is to prevent them from acquiring nuclear weapons, the threat they pose to the region as well as to the world, and the stimulus they provide for other nations to develop their own nuclear arsenal.

* Enforce the U.N. sanctions by inspecting every vessel headed for Iranian ports to make sure they are not ferrying prohibited material. Other than vessels known to be carrying foodstuff and medicine, each ship should be subjected to elaborate inspection.

* Establish an Iran Assistance Fund, from Iran’s frozen assets as well as contributions from peace-loving individuals and organizations, to assist Iranian families during the hardship that the sanctions may create.

* Persuade Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and other Persian Gulf oil producers to significantly increase their output and drastically cut the price. It is what they must do to help forestall the emergence of a nuclear clerical Iran bent on ruling the region.

* Obtain court orders to freeze the overseas assets of Iranian leaders, since they are clearly ill-begotten funds that rightfully belong to the nation.

* Shut down, or severely restrict the operation of the Mullahs' businesses in Dubai and other Persian Gulf states.

* Reduce the staff or completely shut down Iranian missions. Severely restrict Iranian officials and nuclear scientists from foreign travel. Recall your ambassadors from Iran.

* Deny the Iranian airlines operation and encourage non-Iranian airlines to cease serving the country. Provide for flights that serve emergency medical and other health needs of the Iranians.

* File legal charges against the leaders of the Islamic Republic's wanton violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; for their crimes against humanity, genocidal actions against religious and political groups; for support of international terrorism; for demolition of religious sites and cemeteries; for rape, torture, and summary execution of prisoners of conscience; for forgery of documents, for acts of blackmail and fraud, and much more.

* Declare and treat the clerical regime as illegitimate.

* Stop or slow down Iran's import of refined petroleum products.

* Shut down the Islamic Republic's web sites and block their television and radio broadcasts.

* Locate and seize the regime's front organizations such as Alavi Foundation in New York City.

* Identify the agents of the Islamic Republic and prosecute them as promoters of international terrorism.

* Investigate individuals and organizations that lobby or front for the Islamic Republic.

* Take all necessary steps to stop investments in Iran. Persuade banks to refrain from dealing with Iran and the issuance of letters of credit.

* Pressure businesses to stop dealing with Iran.

* Pressure governments to stop doing business with Iran. Warn countries such as China and Russia against circumventing the U.N. resolution and engaging in commercial adventurism.

We, the undersigned, are greatly concerned that the confrontational course of the illegitimate clerical regime of Iran may ignite the flame of war. We urge the leadership as well as people of the world to join in the non-violent campaign of dislodging the mullahs and helping Iranians to establish a secular democracy. The Iran problem is both serious and urgent. It is a world problem. A warning to the world governments and others: You need to act now. Apathy is sleep. If you sleep, we will all weep.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

Source: Amil Imani

Riot police crush protests in Tehran amid allegations of brutality

Authorities respond to protests with
armed riot police and militiamen

June 24 | Martin Fletcher

It was a far cry from the massive demonstrations of last week. Today, just a few hundred protesters converged on Baharestan Square, opposite the Iranian Parliament, and they were brutally repulsed.

It was an exercise in courageous futility, not a contest. Thousands of riot police and militiamen flooded the area. They used teargas, batons and overwhelming force. Helicopters hovered overhead. Nobody was allowed to stop or to gather, let alone exercise their constitutional right to protest.

A video clip posted on YouTube showed young men and women, their faces concealed behind bandanas, throwing stones by a burning barricade and chanting “Death to the Dictator”.

Twitter was flooded with lurid messages. “They pull away the dead — like factory — no human can do this,” said one. “They catch people with mobile — so many killed today — so many injured,” said another. “In Baharestan we saw militia with axe chopping ppl like meat — blood everywhere,” said a third.

There was no way of confirming such reports. It was unclear how many people were injured and arrested, or whether anyone was killed. The handful of foreign reporters left in Tehran are barred from rallies, and all but the bravest Iranians now steer well clear of them.

All that can be said for certain is the regime has finally recaptured the streets through strength of numbers and the unrestrained use of violence. Thirty years after the Iranian revolution it no longer rules with consent, but with military might, and it is cracking down with all means at its disposal.

“Neither the system nor the people will give in to pressures at any price,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, declared on state-controlled television today. “I will insist on implementation of the law.”

Saeed Mortazavi, an Iranian prosecutor notorious for his abuse of prisoners, has been put in charge of arresting and investigating dissidents.

Mr Mortazavi has a long record of involvement in cases of torture, illegal detention and extracting false confessions, Human Rights Watch said. “The leading role of Saeed Mortazavi in the cracksdown of Tehran should set off alarm bells,” it said.

Government officials, conservative politicians and hardline newspapers are pressing for the arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi, the former prime minister who claims that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s presidential election victory was rigged.

One newspaper, Vatan Emrouz, which supports Mr Ahmadinejad, ran a front-page picture of the former prime minister beneath the headline: “Who is responsible for the week-long crime in Tehran?”. It quoted the alleged father of a victim saying: “The one responsible for my child’s blood is Mir Hossein Mousavi and I will follow up this issue until I get my right.”

All 25 employees of Mr Mousavi’s newspaper, Kalemeh Sabz, were arrested, with intelligence officers suggesting that it was plotting against national security.

Mr Mousavi’s freedom of manoeuvre appears to have been severely curtailed, with some reports suggesting that secret police and security agents are monitoring his every move. He was careful to distance himself from what he described as an “independent” demonstration yesterday, and some analysts believe that he will be arrested immediately if he calls for a strike.

Zahra Rahnavard, Mr Mousavi’s wife, said that it was “as if martial law has been imposed”. She said that her husband’s supporters had a constitutional right to protest and demanded the release of all detainees.

Another defeated candidate, Mohsen Rezai, a former Revolutionary Guards chief, fell into line by withdrawing his complaints about election irregularities. Mehdi Karoubi, Mr Ahmadinajead’s third challenger, remained defiant: “I do not accept the result and therefore consider as illegitimate the new Government,” he said.

Determined to portray the protestors as pawns of subversive foreign powers, the regime continued to fulminate against Britain, which it accuses of fomenting the unrest to destablise the Islamic Republic.

Asked about the possibility of Iran downgrading its relations with Britain, Manouchehr Mottaki, the Foreign Minister, replied: “We are studying it.” Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, the Intelligence Minister, claimed that some of the detained “rioters” had British passports.

In Washington the State Department confirmed, to nobody’s surprise, that not one Iranian diplomat, anywhere in the world, had accepted ground-breaking invitations from their American counterparts to share hotdogs at July 4 parties.

Source: Times Online