- 6 January 2010
- 1 Comments
- Events in Iran, Iran Election 2009, Uncategorized
Majles Committee Finds Mortazavi Responsible for Deaths
6 January 2010 Posted By Nayda Lakelieh
Radio Zamaneh reports (via payvand.com) that former Tehran Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi has been deemed responsible for both the torture and death of numerous election protestors detained in Kahrizak prison. This verdict follows a Parliamentary Committee report commissioned to investigate post election occurrences. The Kahrizak detention center, run by the Tehran police department, held a number of detainees following the June protests in which millions flooded the streets of Tehran to voice their dissent. Purportedly, the Kahrizak detainees were brutally tortured and at minimum three detainee deaths have been confirmed from said abuse.
Alef website, a news outlet for conservative Member of Parliament, Ahmad Tavakoli, announced today that the Parliamentary report indicates that detainees were sent to Kahrizak by the order of Saeed Mortazavi who was charged with the supervision of this detention centre by the former Head of Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi.
Speaker of the Parliament Ali Larjani has yet to decide whether the report will be publicized. Mortazavi, who adamantly denies any sort of misconduct, is also notable due to his part in arresting journalists and shutting down various publications over the last decade.
Perhaps this is Mortazavi’s overdue karma for his lack of respect for basic human rights over the past ten years. Perhaps Mortazavi is also being made a scapegoat for all the brutality afflicted upon Kahrizak detainees. This could be evidence of progress being made towards viable accountability for human rights violators… but not likely.
One Response to “Majles Committee Finds Mortazavi Responsible for Deaths”
I understand the skepticism, Nayda. But can you imagine a US Congress committee report directing blame for torture at Guantanimo, Abu Ghraib, Bagram and secret CIA black sites on any ranking officials in the Bush Administration? It didn’t happen. And Obama is continuing this policy of hush.
Kahrizak is closed. Guantanimo isn’t, despite a lot of flowery, broken promises.
Give the Iranians the minimum level of credit. At least (in this case) their government provides, at a minimum, the appearance of actively pursuing a ranking official deemed responsible for torture.
Like here in the US, we’ll see if anything comes from it.