A Civilian Died in Police Custody in Isfahan

HRANA News Agency – Mohsen Maleki, Esfahani citizen who was arrested in connection with the “Wednesday Celebration” (Chaharshanbeh Soori), vaguely died in the custody of the police station No 16 in Esfahan, and his family claim that signs of torture were observed on his body.

According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency in Iran (HRANA), Mohsen Maleki, 26, married and a resident of Esfahan, who had been arrested on the pretext of preventing crime before Wednesday feast, vaguely died in the detention of the police station 16 and his body was buried on Friday.

Parvaneh Shirani, Mr. Maleki’s mother, with the approval of the issue in a conversation with HRANA’s reporter, added, “Mr. Maleki had no specific illness and on Tuesday 16th March was arrested by the police station 16 of Esfahan, and was taken into their detention.”

“We met Mohsen on Tuesday and he was well, but on Wednesday morning we got the news of his death.” Ms. Shirani added.

According to Mr. Maleki’s family, police forces and staff of Khorshid hospital, where probably he died, failed to provide the relevant documentation and medical records relating to his death.

Mohsen Maleki, 26-year-old worker, had been obliged to attend police station every year before “Wednesday Feast” because he had record of detention in 2010. However, this year he did not do this, so he was arrested on the street by the police forces.

So far, government officials and police forces are silent about this suspicious death. His family has claimed that signs of torture were observable on his body.

It is worth noting, suspicious deaths of prisoners and detainees in custody has precedent, and in some cases officials have accepted that they happened due to torture or agents’ operation, although the majority of these cases have never been properly investigated and the perpetrators have not been punished.