Iranian judiciary puts 12 officers on trial for violationg detainee rights

Iranian authorities started the court proceedings against 12 members of the police force who are accused of violating detainee rights in Kahrizak prison this summer and causing the death of at least three people.

ILNA reports that the court session was held behind closed doors today in the armed forces judiciary organization with Judge Mohammad Mosaddegh residing in the presence of families of the victims and other plaintiffs and their lawyers.

In the opening of the session, Judge Mosaddegh maintained that the court’s objective is to “discover the truth and execute justice” and the prosecution of a few officers does not imply that we are denying the “hard work of the security forces.”

He also established that the contents of the court sessions cannot be publicized adding: “Parts of the file contains certain issues and information that if published could harm general order of the society.”

After the reading of the indictment, father of Mohammad Kamrani and other plaintiffs expressed their case.

18-year-old Mohammad Kamrani was arrested on June 10 in Tehran and transferred to Kahrizak jail. Seven days later, he passed away as a result of the torture he suffered at the hand of his jailers.

A parliamentary probe into the Kahrizak case issued an official report confirming that close to 150 post-election detainees were taken to this detention centre and suffered “harsh treatment” by the officers in charge.

The report which was read in the parliament in December confirmed that three people, Mohsen Ruholamini, Amir Javadifar and Mohammad Kamrani were killed at Kahrizak.

In February father of Mohsen Ruholamiani, Abdolhosein Ruholamini, a prominent figure in Iranian politics, claimed Ramin Aghazadeh Ghahremani was another casualty of the tortures at Kahrizak.

The Kahrizak episode has caused great embarrassment for Islamic Republic establishment but all attempts to sweep the issue under the carpet by denying the charges failed as families and opposition forces persisted in publicizing the crimes that took place there and relentlessly called for justice.