Iranian Protesters Raped in Prison: Candidate

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 10, 2009 7:23 AM CDT
Iranian Protesters Raped in Prison: Candidate
Hossein Rassam, a political analyst at the British Embassy in Iran, during the mass trial now taking place in Tehran.   (AP Photo/Fars News Agency, Ali Rafiee)

Iranian protesters, both male and female, were raped in a notorious prison in the aftermath of the disputed presidential election, one of the defeated candidates alleged today. Reformist Mehdi Karroubi wrote on his website that senior prison officials told him about "really shameful issues," including sexual violence that "caused serious injuries." Last week Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the prison closed; its director has been arrested.

The Iranian chief of police said he regretted that political prisoners were transferred to a jail that "was only built for thugs and gangsters." But he denied that two detainees who have since died were mistreated, blaming their deaths on a "deadly virus infection." Opposition leaders say that three people died at the prison, including the son of one of the top aides to another defeated candidate.
(More Iran stories.)

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