Iran opposition claims 69 killed in election protests
August 11th, 2009 - 4:45 pm ICT by IANSTehran, Aug 11 (DPA) Iran’s political opposition said 69 people were killed in protests over the June 12 presidential election which led to the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a Tehran newspaper reported Tuesday.
The daily Sarmayeh quoted Alireza Hosseini-Beheshti, an ally of opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi, as saying that a list with the names of 69 killed demonstrators was presented Monday to the parliament for further investigation.
The Iranian government has said that between 20 and 26 people were killed in the unrest but opposition circles always claimed that the number was much higher.
Reports by the opposition about the killing of 12-year-old Ali-Reza during the July 30 protest gathering in Tehran’s Beheshte Zahra cemetery were rejected by the boy’s parents, who claimed that their son was killed in a car accident before the gathering.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani ordered a committee to investigate the deaths as well as the situation of the detainees.
Claims made Sunday by Mehdi Karroubi, the head of the opposition party Etemad Melli, that some young protestors had been sexually abused in detention has led to renewed controversy.
Karroubi quoted released detainees as saying that some of the young women have been so brutally raped in jail that their genitals were torn.
In a letter to the head of the clergy Experts’ Assembly Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, Karroubi also claimed that young male prisoners had been “brutally raped”.
Larijani said that he would follow up the claims, the daily Etemad Melli reported Tuesday.
“A special committee is following up the (rape) case and will soon make a report and I personally will follow up the case as well,” Larijani said.
Some of the arrested protestors were sent to Kahrizak prison in southern Tehran, also known as “Tehran’s Guantanamo,” which was closed down last month because it lacked the necessary standards for preserving detainees’ rights.
Both the Iranian police chief and prosecutor’s general office have confirmed physical abuse in the Kahrizak prison, saying they were “indefensible” and demanded punishment for all those responsible for mistreating prisoners.
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Tags: akbar hashemi rafsanjani, ali larijani, ali reza, beheshte zahra, election protests, etemad melli, iran opposition, iranian government, iranian parliament, mahmoud ahmadinejad, male prisoners, mehdi karroubi, moussavi, necessary standards, opposition leader, opposition party, parliament speaker, political opposition, president mahmoud ahmadinejad, rape case
