Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Iran Teen Describes, Via Email, His Torture

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Jun 24, 2009 9:15 AM CDT
Email

(Newser) – Iranian-American activists are circulating an email, written in Farsi, in which a 17-year-old boy describes his torture at the hands of the regime, complete with graphic photographs, Salon reports. The boy, who says he's not an activist of any stripe, says he was minding his own business in a parking lot when agents apprehended him. Taken into custody, police beat him with batons, broke his fingers, and sliced the webs between them, and hung him from his wrists to be beaten some more.

Finally, he was taken to a hospital, bandaged and released. “I think they knew we did nothing,” he writes. “I am surprised how I tolerated all the tortures and survived.” Salon’s translator raises some issues with the email: the boy seems to confuse Basij paramilitaries and police, and claims non-Iranians were among his captors—a rampant and unsubstantiated rumor in Iran. But some confusion is natural, the translator said. “It is obvious that he was tortured.” When this happened is unclear.

This image, obtained by Salon from an email circulating among Iranian-American activists, shows a teenager who says he was tortured by the regime.
This image, obtained by Salon from an email circulating among Iranian-American activists, shows a teenager who says he was tortured by the regime.
This image, obtained by Salon from an email circulating among Iranian-American activists, shows a teenager who says he was tortured by the regime.
This image, obtained by Salon from an email circulating among Iranian-American activists, shows a teenager who says he was tortured by the regime.
This image, obtained by Salon from an email circulating among Iranian-American activists, shows a teenager who says he was tortured by the regime.
This image, obtained by Salon from an email circulating among Iranian-American activists, shows a teenager who says he was tortured by the regime.
This image, obtained by Salon from an email circulating among Iranian-American activists, shows a teenager who says he was tortured by the regime.
This image, obtained by Salon from an email circulating among Iranian-American activists, shows a teenager who says he was tortured by the regime.
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
To report an error on this story, notify our editors.
A snapshot of the day's best news stories.
 
COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 6 comments
riffran
Jun 25, 2009 6:56 AM CDT
Because Shannonals (good point by the way) ....despite the self loathing hate rhetoric so rampant here...the bulk of the American people actually do wish to help and "save" the world, it's all the politicians that screw it up for us.....here and abroad
Shannonals
Jun 25, 2009 6:08 AM CDT
JonmarkP you and anyone else who doesn't think the President has done what he can are warped. I swear, you people won't be happy until the United States runs off to help yet another country while the rest of the world lets us handle the burden. The United Nations can't do anything, Europe won't do anything, so why are people in such a rush to send our American soldiers into harms way into a country that hates us?
JonmarkP
Jun 24, 2009 11:37 AM CDT
I remember a day when Americans could claim the moral high ground on torture. Now you see a photo like this and have to read the text to see if Americans did this to the boy, or someone else. We lost something really, really important to the Bush years. Obama isn't doing nearly enough to reverse that course.

Regime challenged on theological grounds
Wall Street Journal

 
Iran • torture • Iranian Revolutionary Guard • Iranian election • Basij militia

More Newser Stories

Iran: We Can Strike US 'Around the World'

Iran Again Flexes Naval Muscles

Iran Willing to Attack US: Report

Israel Behind Blast at Tehran Missile Base: Official

Obama: Iran Plot Evidence Will Convince Skeptics
NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   Betty Confidential   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Fark   |   Timelines   |   The Frisky   |   Geek Sugar   |   NewsOne