Opposition Leader’s Son Tortured
The wife of former presidential candidate and opposition leader Mehdi Karrubi has written an open letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader saying that her son was severely beaten and threatened with rape while in custody.
Ali Karrubi was arrested when trying to protect his father from police attacks during the rallies marking the 31st anniversary of the Iranian Revolution. Fatemeh Karrubi writes that her son was videotaped when tortured. When Ali’s release order was issued, the torturer told him, “If you would have stayed here for another 24 hours, I would have delivered your corpse,” she writes.
A Radio Farda Web site viewer commented, “If Mehdi Karrubi had not publicized the rapes committed in Iran’s prisons after the presidential election unrest, the rape threat against his own son today might have been realized.”
Prosecutor Denies Karrubi's Arrest
Tehran’s prosecutor general has denied Ali Karrubi’s arrest, saying that no warrant was issued for it. Nafiseh Panahi, Ali Karrubi’s wife, told Radio Farda, “Plainclothes agents who arrested my husband usually act arbitrarily; namely, they first arrest people and then issue the arrest warrant.”
She added that two of her husband’s friends who were also detained with him are his witnesses. “Through Radio Farda, I ask the prosecutor to send a representative to our home to see Ali’s condition so that others might be saved from such brutalities,” she said.
On the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, Iranian protesters who took to the streets of Tehran and other cities were raided by tear gas and batons. Many of the demonstrators were detained.
[read in Farsi]