26 Iranian Political Prisoners Send Letter of Complaint

Tehran Bureau — 26 political prisoners have submitted a letter of complaint against the Ministry of Intelligence and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, accusing them of torture and other crimes. The letter has been sent to the Majles Article 90 Commission, which is supposed to investigate citizens’ complaints and forward them to the judiciary. The letter has been submitted on the first anniversary of the approval by the Majles of a law called “Respect for Legitimate Freedom and Rights of Citizens.” A copy of the letter has also been sent to the commission set up to monitor implementation of that law.

The letter details multiple violations of the law by the Ministry of Intelligence, the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence unit, and the police, including:

(1) arrests without warrants, or with warrants lacking any authority’s signature, or with dozens of names, and the fact that some warrants were signed several days before the June 12, 2009, presidential elections to which the charges supposedly related;
(2) conviction of political prisoners based on suspicion, rather than on proper legal cases;
(3) absence of attorneys during prisoners’ interrogations, though several laws explicitly state that the presence of an attorney is necessary;
(4) inhumane and un-Islamic treatment of prisoners by their interrogators;
(5) procedures for arresting, interrogating, and trying the accused that completely violate the procedures specified by the law;
(6) covering the eyes of the accused and other forms of mistreatment during interrogation;
(7) the fact that the interrogators hide themselves during interrogation, a violation of the law that says the accused must be able to see the interrogator;
(8) destroying or confiscating personal items of the accused at work or at home;
(9) torturing the accused;
(10) use of inexperienced and extremist interrogators who consistently violate the laws;
(11) improperly delving into the private lives of the accused;
(12) changing the responses of the accused to interrogators’ questions so that they conform to preconceived judgments.

Among the letter’s signatories are some of the best-known reformist figures, university activists, and journalists imprisoned in the Islamic Republic, such as Mostafa Tajzadeh, Mohsen Mirdamadi, Keyvan Samimi, Bahman Ahmadi Amooei, Abdollah Momemi, Zia Nabavi, Abdollah Ramazanzadeh, Behzad Nabavi, Feyzollah Arab Sorkhi, Abolfazl Ghadyani, Ali Malihi, and Hassan Asadi Zeidabadi.