Ali Karroubi's Signs of Torture

(14 February 2010) The wife of opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi has published an open letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader detailing her son Ali Karroubi’s torture following his detention on 11 February, as the authorities stifled opposition demonstrations, and appealed for an end to such abuses.

Fatemeh Karroubi described how her son was arrested as he attempted to protect his father from violence by unidentified agents.

“They took him to the Amiral Momenin Mosque and he was beaten along with other detainees. He was recognized when they were registering the detainees by name. Then, after ten minutes, after the agents got the order from higher officials, he was separated from the other detainees and beaten severely. They used the Mosque as a place of torturing the children of the people of the country. Along with physical torture, Ali was subjected to verbal assault against his parents and was under severe psychological torture. When Ali protested the insult against his parents, the physical and psychological tortures were increased.”

The letter implied that Ali Karroubi had been threatened with sexual assault, saying that, “Those actions in a Mosque, according to the Islamic Penal Code, should be punished with death.”

She continued: “They filmed him while he was tortured. When the order for his release was issued, the agent torturing him regretted that if they could keep him for only for 24 hours, his family would have received his body.”

Fatemeh Karroubi ended her letter with a passionate appeal to the Supreme Leader to save the many young Iranians who have been arbitrarily detained for their peaceful political activities, and who, like her son, faced torture and death in detentions centers.

The Farsi version of the letter with photo may be found at this link:
http://www.rahesabz.info/story/10207/