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By Martin Fletcher
January 11, 2010
Source: Times Online
Police beat a man during protests in Tehran against June's election results
Iran’s parliament blamed one of the regime’s most infamous hardliners yesterday for the violent deaths of three anti-government protesters who were held in an overcrowded detention centre after the fiercely disputed presidential election in June.
The MPs’ investigation said that the abuse of the detainees had “disgraced and undermined” the Islamic Republic, and called for Saeed Mortazavi, Tehran’s former chief prosecutor, and others responsible to be punished.
Analysts said that the rare display of candour from parliament could be an attempt to appease the opposition or to make Mr Mortazavi a scapegoat for events that are undeniable.
It may also, they said, reflect the deep splits that exist within the political establishment. Mr Mortazavi is an ally of President Ahmadinejad, and both men are loathed by many traditional conservatives.
Saeed Mortazavi has been blamed for the deaths of protesters in Iran
Mr Mortazavi, 42, is known as the “butcher of the press” for his vicious campaign against the reformist media during his six years as Tehran’s prosecutor. He closed more than 100 newspapers and websites, arrested scores of journalists, and was heavily implicated in the death of Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian-Canadian photographer who was tortured, beaten and raped while in custody in 2003.
After June’s election, Mr Mortazavi was responsible for prosecuting hundreds of anti-government protesters and organising mass show trials. According to the parliamentary report, he insisted on 147 detainees being sent to the Kahrizak detention centre south of Tehran, even though its administrators insisted that it was full.
Kahrizak was designed for unusually dangerous prisoners and was less regulated than conventional prisons, with no family visits allowed. The 147 detainees were packed into a room of just 750 sq ft — the size of a one-bedroom apartment. Three people died, including the son of a prominent conservative, and there was such an outcry from across the political spectrum that Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, was forced to close the centre in July.
Mr Mortazavi claimed that the three dead were killed by meningitis. A young doctor, Ramin Pourandarjani, who worked at Kahrizak and suggested otherwise, died in mysterious circumstances last November.
But the investigation, which was read out to the parliament and widely reported in the state-controlled media, said the deaths resulted from “limitation of space, poor sanitary conditions, inappropriate nutrition, heat, lack of ventilation and . . . also as a result of physical attacks”.
The report said the detainees were “beaten and humiliated by their jailers”, and concluded: “The judiciary . . . should seriously deal with all those behind these bitter events without any reservation and regardless of their positions.”
The parliament’s report is not legally binding, and whether the judiciary will now prosecute Mr Mortazavi remains to be seen. He appears to retain Mr Ahmadinejad’s support. Although the new Justice Minister dismissed him as Tehran’s chief prosecutor in August, the President put him in charge of counter-smuggling efforts instead, an appointment that did not require parliamentary confirmation.
The MPs’ report denied opposition claims that detainees were raped. “The committee arrived at no instances of sexual molestation and we reject the claim strongly,” it said.