Sunday, August 9, 2009

Iran Prosecutor General Acknowledges Torture of Prisoners

Iran’s Prosecutor General Qorbanali Dori-Najafabadi told reporters in Tehran on Saturday that some detained arrested during post-election protests had been tortured in prisons.

“Maybe there were cases of torture in the early days after the election,” Dori-Najafabadi said, “but we are willing to follow up any complaints or irregularities that have taken place.”

Dori-Najafabadi blamed the torture on the government agencies that made the arrests, the IRGC and the Basij. Iran’s judiciary does not have control over those agencies. They come under the direct command of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.

The Iranian opposition had accused the government of torturing the prisoners, but this is the first such acknowledgement by a high-ranking judiciary official.

The prosecutor general said “mistakes” had to led to few “painful accidents which cannot be defended, and those who were involved should be punished.

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