A lawyer representing the families of two detainees who died in custody in Iran after being arrested during protests that erupted across the country in December 2017 is concerned about the fate of current detainees.
“How could there be so many suicides in the detention centers without any of the authorities being transparent about it?” attorney Hossein Ahmadiniaz told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on January 20, 2018.
“The judicial system has been very slow in dealing with the large volume of cases involving recent detentions,” he added. “We hope this will not cause their rights to be violated.”
Continued Ahmadiniaz: “One of my clients is in prison in Sanandaj [Kurdistan Province]. Before being taken away for medical and psychological tests, I felt it was necessary to declare that he is completely healthy.”
“His life is in the hands of the State Prisons Organization and he has no intention of committing suicide,” added Ahmadiniaz. “You never know, he could have an ‘accident.’ This applies to my other clients as well.”
Ahmadiniaz told CHRI he has been denied access to the detention centers where his clients are being held.
“There is a discussion going on right now about organizing an inspection of Evin Prison by members of Parliament from Tehran who are looking into these detentions,” he said. “They want to meet and talk to the detainees.
“The truth is that we are worried about a repeat of the incidents that took place in the Kahrizak detention center [in 2009],” added Ahmadiniaz. “We are worried that every city could witness another Kahrizak.”
In July 2009, dozens of people who were peacefully protesting the disputed result of that year’s presidential election were rounded up and taken to the Kahrizak Detention Center in southern Tehran. According to eyewitnesses, many were tortured.
Iran Briefing | News Press Focus on Human Rights Violation by IRGC, Iran Human Rights