"Tagheer" said that 26-year-old Purazdjani committed suicide following the revelation of events at the detention center that is being described by the opposition as "Iran's Guantanamo."
Several people who have been arrested since the June presidential election who were held at Kahrizak have reportedly said that they were tortured and raped. At least two detainees, including the son of a conservative official, Mohsen Ruholamini, are reported to have died as a result of abuse there.
"Noruz," which is close to the reformist Mosharekat party, whose senior members have been jailed in the postelection crackdown, reported that the physician examined Ruholamini two days before his death.
According to the report, Dr. Purandarjani died on November 10 in his room at a police clinic in Tehran.
sponsored by
Ban, General Assembly call for Olympic Truce ahead of Vancouver Games
The United Nations is calling for the traditional age-old truce during the XXI Winter Olympics which open in Vancouver, Canada, this Friday, urging warring parties to lay down their arms as the Games? ancient Greek founders did some 2,700 years ago.
Pacific island nations at UN meeting call on world to fulfil aid commitments
Fourteen island developing nations in the Pacific Ocean wrapped up a United Nations-backed meeting today with a call to the global community to honour its commitments to help them weather the fallout from global economic crises and recent natural disasters.
"Noruz" also reported that Purandarjani was threatened on a number of occasions by "unknown persons " not to reveal the truth about the involvement of "senior military and judiciary officials" at Kahrizak.
The reports adds that Purandarjani recounted the events at Kahrizak to a few of his friends and expressed concern for his own safety. Shortly afterward, his sudden death was announced.
Officials have reportedly said that he died from a heart attack. But "Noruz" reported that the authorities did not allow the family to perform an autopsy and that his funeral was held under tight security measures.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered Kahrizak, which is in southern Tehran, to be shut down in late July following growing criticism and anger over reported abuses there.
The authorities have said that those officials who violated the law at Kahrizak will be put on trial. T
The spokesman of the Supreme National Security Council committee in charge of investigating the postelection events, Parviz Soruri, was quoted in October as saying that most of the suspects arrested for the abuses at the Kahrizak detention center have been released on bail.
-- Golnaz Esfandiari



RSS