One of the major recurring human rights abuses by the Islamic Republic is the torture and abuse of detainees in Iranian prisons. Although these practices are nothing new, they have recently become a lightning rod of controversy amid the hundreds of arrests following the election protests this June.
Political prisoners within the walls of Iranian prisons such as Kahrizak and Evin prison testify that they are victimized by one or multiple of the following mistreatments: beatings, cutting, flogging, being held completely incommunicado, hours of interrogation, various degrees of mental, physical, and sexual torture, humiliation, forced confessions, and brutal rape.
Due to the opacity of the Iranian legal system it is often very difficult to come up with a concrete verification for the claims of abuse expressed by those incarcerated. However, the consistency of the claims made by the detainees and the physical evidence seen on their bodies and observed in their mental state upon leaving these prisons strongly suggests the truth within the allegations.
To get an idea of the extent of the abuse seen within these prisons one need look no further than the case of Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian-Iranian photo journalist who died in Iranian custody a mere 19 days after her arrest. (A full report on this incident can be found here. This report is the property of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center and is not affiliated with Omid for Iran.)
Kazemi was in Iran on June 23rd, 2003 to take photographs of parents gathered at the gates of Evin prison in an attempt to find out what had happened to their children, who were arrested days earlier for taking part in a demonstration. Kazemi had a government issued press card for this event which, to her knowledge, allowed her to work throughout Tehran. As Kazemi was taking pictures a guard emerged from the prison and asked her to turn over her camera- a request Kazemi refused. After a short violent scuffle, Kazemi was detained by the guards and taken into custody at Evin.
Although specifics of exactly what happened to Kazemi in custody is still a bit fuzzy, it is clear that she was passed around between multiple Iranian ministries who questioned her for hours on end and held her completely incommunicado both from her family and proper legal representation. Nothing else was known about her treatment in the prison until July 11th, 2003, the day she was brought to Baghiyyatollah al-Azam Military Hospital and was pronounced dead.
The original report from the government stated that Kazemi had suffered a tragic stroke while in prison and died from the complications thereof. A few days later the report changed to state that Kazemi had been on a hunger strike while in prison and had collapsed from exhaustion and hit her head. With all these contradictions in the reports the real truth was finally revealed- Iran’s then-Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi conceded to the press that Kazemi had been killed as a result of being beaten.
Almost 2 years later Kazemi’s case became an extreme controversy when Shahram Azam, a staff physician at al-Azam, stated that he had examined Kazemi in the hospital shortly after her arrest and found multiple signs of torture. Kazemi’s body, according to Azam, had been subject to a skull fracture, two broken fingers, crushed toes, a broken nose, bruising all over the body, scratches, marks of floggings, and evidence of what he described as a “brutal” rape.
Though it is clear that the extremes seen in Kazemi’s case are not typical, it remains blatantly obvious that a grotesque abuse of power is present in the Iranian prison system. Far too many others have claims similar to what is seen in Kazemi’s case and, in fact, deaths continue to occur in these prisons, as seen in the recent death of Mohsen Ruholamini, who died in Kahrizak prison from repeated beatings early in August.
These conditions can and must be changed. Iran is a signatory of both the International Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Signing these declarations affirms a nation’s commitment to securing human rights for its entire people. If those aren’t enough, Iran’s own constitution “guarantees” similar rights including the right to protest peaceably, freedom from discrimination, and equality before the law. These rights look great on paper, but if the Iranian people are to reach their full potential not only in their own lives but also on the world stage the Iranian government needs to put its own constitution into practice. They either need to do this, or, in the words of Grant Ayatollah Montazeri, “… at least have the courage to announce that this government is neither a republic nor is it Islamic.”
Political prisoners within the walls of Iranian prisons such as Kahrizak and Evin prison testify that they are victimized by one or multiple of the following mistreatments: beatings, cutting, flogging, being held completely incommunicado, hours of interrogation, various degrees of mental, physical, and sexual torture, humiliation, forced confessions, and brutal rape.
Due to the opacity of the Iranian legal system it is often very difficult to come up with a concrete verification for the claims of abuse expressed by those incarcerated. However, the consistency of the claims made by the detainees and the physical evidence seen on their bodies and observed in their mental state upon leaving these prisons strongly suggests the truth within the allegations.
To get an idea of the extent of the abuse seen within these prisons one need look no further than the case of Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian-Iranian photo journalist who died in Iranian custody a mere 19 days after her arrest. (A full report on this incident can be found here. This report is the property of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center and is not affiliated with Omid for Iran.)
Kazemi was in Iran on June 23rd, 2003 to take photographs of parents gathered at the gates of Evin prison in an attempt to find out what had happened to their children, who were arrested days earlier for taking part in a demonstration. Kazemi had a government issued press card for this event which, to her knowledge, allowed her to work throughout Tehran. As Kazemi was taking pictures a guard emerged from the prison and asked her to turn over her camera- a request Kazemi refused. After a short violent scuffle, Kazemi was detained by the guards and taken into custody at Evin.
Although specifics of exactly what happened to Kazemi in custody is still a bit fuzzy, it is clear that she was passed around between multiple Iranian ministries who questioned her for hours on end and held her completely incommunicado both from her family and proper legal representation. Nothing else was known about her treatment in the prison until July 11th, 2003, the day she was brought to Baghiyyatollah al-Azam Military Hospital and was pronounced dead.
The original report from the government stated that Kazemi had suffered a tragic stroke while in prison and died from the complications thereof. A few days later the report changed to state that Kazemi had been on a hunger strike while in prison and had collapsed from exhaustion and hit her head. With all these contradictions in the reports the real truth was finally revealed- Iran’s then-Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi conceded to the press that Kazemi had been killed as a result of being beaten.
Almost 2 years later Kazemi’s case became an extreme controversy when Shahram Azam, a staff physician at al-Azam, stated that he had examined Kazemi in the hospital shortly after her arrest and found multiple signs of torture. Kazemi’s body, according to Azam, had been subject to a skull fracture, two broken fingers, crushed toes, a broken nose, bruising all over the body, scratches, marks of floggings, and evidence of what he described as a “brutal” rape.
Though it is clear that the extremes seen in Kazemi’s case are not typical, it remains blatantly obvious that a grotesque abuse of power is present in the Iranian prison system. Far too many others have claims similar to what is seen in Kazemi’s case and, in fact, deaths continue to occur in these prisons, as seen in the recent death of Mohsen Ruholamini, who died in Kahrizak prison from repeated beatings early in August.
These conditions can and must be changed. Iran is a signatory of both the International Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Signing these declarations affirms a nation’s commitment to securing human rights for its entire people. If those aren’t enough, Iran’s own constitution “guarantees” similar rights including the right to protest peaceably, freedom from discrimination, and equality before the law. These rights look great on paper, but if the Iranian people are to reach their full potential not only in their own lives but also on the world stage the Iranian government needs to put its own constitution into practice. They either need to do this, or, in the words of Grant Ayatollah Montazeri, “… at least have the courage to announce that this government is neither a republic nor is it Islamic.”
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