Iran: Protesters Were Tortured

Prosecutor general blamed Basij, Revolutionary Guard for 'painful accidents'
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 9, 2009 11:00 AM CDT
Iran: Protesters Were Tortured
Local staff member of the French Embassy in Tehran, Nazak Afshar, weeps at the court room in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009.   (AP Photo/ILNA, Hanif Shoaee)

The Iranian prosecutor general admitted today that protesters arrested in the wake of the disputed presidential election were tortured, the New York Times reports. The comments by Qorbanali Dori-Najafabadi were the first official acknowledgments of torture made by an Iranian government official. Dori-Najafabadi blamed what he called a few “painful accidents” on the Basij militia and Revolutionary Guard, which made many of the arrests.

The judiciary took charge of the arrest and detention of protesters last month and has since sought to humanize the treatment of prisoners, Dori-Najafabadi said. He called for those involved in torture “to be punished,” singling out in particular the “Kahrizak incident,” in which several detainees were killed at Kahrizak detention center in Tehran.
(More Iran stories.)

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