Kahrizak detention center
Encyclopedia
Kahrizak detention center (in Persian: بازداشتگاه کهریزک) is a detainment facility operated by the Judicial system of Iran
in southern Tehran
.
to the post of Tehran police chief, the center became a key site for carrying out the "Public Security Plan" targeting drug addicts and so-called "thugs and louts" endangering public morality.
Reports of inhumane treatment of the prisoners at Kahrizak were released, with some comparing the conditions there unfavorably to even the notorious political ward 209 of Evin prison
. Opposition groups have published unverified reports of human rights abuses and as many as 6,000 deaths inside the prison during the years 2007 and 2008.
. The head of the national security forces, Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam, stated in an interview with state television on August 5, 2009 that only the most dangerous offenders involved in the election protests were to be delivered to the Kahrizak center, which has a 50 prisoner capacity. The rest were to be taken to Evin prison
. Tehran riot police and Basij members used other official and unofficial sites to detain suspects charged with endangering national security and public safety during the protests, including the Level -4 detention center in the Interior Ministry
building. Ahmadi-Moghaddam further admitted in his television interview that many of the 140 prisoners he claimed to be housed at Kahrizak were low priority suspects. Mohsen Ruholamini, the son of a conservative politician who had supported pragmatic presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei, was among the Kahrizak prisoners.
On August 9, 2009, in a letter to the Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council of Iran, Mehdi Karroubi
demanded investigation of Iranian prisons for possible tortures and in particular sexual harassment of men and women. On August 19, he wrote to parliament speaker Ali Larijani, asking to meet with him, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and the state prosecutor to "personally present my documents and evidence over the cases of sexual abuse in some prisons specially Kahrizak."
Ali Larijani
and Sadeq Larijani
(Judiciary committee) both officially rejected his claims and Ali Khamenei
's representatives and Vice Chairman of National Security Commission of the parliament demanded Karroubi's arrest.
, according to one account, daily took part in these beatings. Ahmadi-Moghaddam has since denied these reports about Radan as unfounded rumors. Mohsen Ruholamini and Amir Javadifar were two of the prisoners reported to have died from torture
at Kahrizak. The medical report on Ruholamini's death originally stated that Ruholomini died of "physical stress, the effects of being held in bad conditions, multiple blows and severe injuries to the body." The physician who wrote this report, Ramin Pourandarjani
, subsequently died in mysterious circumstances in police headquarters. The autopsy report for Javadifar stated that his death was caused by blunt trauma injury from severe beating.
In an exceptionally strong and critical speech, the Iranian opposition leader, Mir-Hossein Mousavi
spoke out on July 17, 2009 against the arrests and killings of protesters. Erstwhile prime minister Moussavi said, "How can it be that the leaders of our country do not cry out and shed tears about these tragedies? ... Can they not see it, feel it? These things are blackening our country, blackening all our hearts. If we remain silent, it will destroy us all and take us to hell."
Grand Ayatollah Hosein-Ali Montazeri on 29 July demanded prosecution of anybody responsible for abuses. "Can the government deceive people by closing a detention center and blaming all the faults on a building?" he said. "What benefit does the government gain from the crisis, except angering the majority of the people and weakening the Islamic republic?" He added "Was the regime of the Shah able to resist the wave of dissatisfaction by using terror, oppression, censorship
, torture, forced confessions and lying propaganda?"
Grand Ayatollah Asadollah Bayat-Zanjani
said: "We are witnessing sorrowful acts committed in the name of the regime and under the banner of God that bring pain to the heart of all supporters of the Islamic republic."
The crimes were so grave that even several well known conservative politicians like Ali Motahhari expressed concerns about them.
It was only after the death of the son of one of the conservative politicians, that the Iranian leader Ali Khamenei
and head of Judicial System, Hashemi Shahroudi stepped in and ordered the closure of Kahrizak detention center.
An official announcement was made on August 5, 2009 that three prison wardens were arrested in connection with the torture of detainees at Kahrizak.
On December 19, 2009, Iranian authorities acknowledged that at least three protesters had been beaten to death in the Kahrizak jail. Twelve prison officials were charged with crimes, including murder.
The Iranian parliament assigned a committee to investigate the incidents. The committee released a report in January 2010 that implicated former Tehran prosecutor-general Saeed Mortazavi
as being behind the abuses. Days before the report was issued, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appointed Mortazavi as his special advisor on smuggling, which in effect was an attempt to shield Mortazavi from prosecution.
Judicial system of Iran
A nationwide judicial system in Iran was first implemented and established by Abdolhossein Teymourtash under Reza Shah, with further changes during the second Pahlavi era....
in southern Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
.
Before 2009 election protests
Authorities first made plans for the Kahrizak detention center in 2001. The center's cells, located underground, were apparently built without free access to fresh air and toilet facilities. With the appointment of Ahmad-Reza RadanAhmad-Reza Radan
Brigadier-General Ahmad Reza Radan is Deputy Commander of the Iranian police and as Tehran's police chief, infamous for his crackdown on "unIslamic" hair and dress style....
to the post of Tehran police chief, the center became a key site for carrying out the "Public Security Plan" targeting drug addicts and so-called "thugs and louts" endangering public morality.
Reports of inhumane treatment of the prisoners at Kahrizak were released, with some comparing the conditions there unfavorably to even the notorious political ward 209 of Evin prison
Evin Prison
Evin House of Detention is a prison in Iran, located in Evin, northwestern Tehran. It is noted for its political prisoners' wing, where prisoners have been held both before and after the 1979 Iranian Revolution...
. Opposition groups have published unverified reports of human rights abuses and as many as 6,000 deaths inside the prison during the years 2007 and 2008.
2009 election protests
Several thousand civilians and activists were arrested after the disputed presidential election in 20092009 Iranian election protests
Protests following the 2009 Iranian presidential election against the disputed victory of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi occurred in major cities in Iran and around the world starting June 13, 2009...
. The head of the national security forces, Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam, stated in an interview with state television on August 5, 2009 that only the most dangerous offenders involved in the election protests were to be delivered to the Kahrizak center, which has a 50 prisoner capacity. The rest were to be taken to Evin prison
Evin Prison
Evin House of Detention is a prison in Iran, located in Evin, northwestern Tehran. It is noted for its political prisoners' wing, where prisoners have been held both before and after the 1979 Iranian Revolution...
. Tehran riot police and Basij members used other official and unofficial sites to detain suspects charged with endangering national security and public safety during the protests, including the Level -4 detention center in the Interior Ministry
Ministry of Interior (Iran)
The Ministry of Interior of the Islamic Republic of Iran is in charge of performing, supervising and reporting elections, and policing, among other responsibilities related to the interior....
building. Ahmadi-Moghaddam further admitted in his television interview that many of the 140 prisoners he claimed to be housed at Kahrizak were low priority suspects. Mohsen Ruholamini, the son of a conservative politician who had supported pragmatic presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei, was among the Kahrizak prisoners.
On August 9, 2009, in a letter to the Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council of Iran, Mehdi Karroubi
Mehdi Karroubi
Mehdi Karroubi is an influential Iranian reformist politician, democracy activist, mojtahed, and chairman of the National Trust Party. He was Chairman of the parliament from 1989 to 1992 and 2000 to 2004, and a presidential candidate in the 2005 and 2009 presidential elections.He is a founding...
demanded investigation of Iranian prisons for possible tortures and in particular sexual harassment of men and women. On August 19, he wrote to parliament speaker Ali Larijani, asking to meet with him, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and the state prosecutor to "personally present my documents and evidence over the cases of sexual abuse in some prisons specially Kahrizak."
Ali Larijani
Ali Larijani
Ali Ardashir Larijani is an Iranian philosopher, politician and the chairman of the Iranian parliament. Larijani was the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council from August 15, 2005 to October 20, 2007, appointed to the position by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,replacing Hassan Rowhani...
and Sadeq Larijani
Sadeq Larijani
Ayatollah Sadegh Ardeshir Amoli Larijani is an Iranian cleric, politician and current head of the judicial system of Iran....
(Judiciary committee) both officially rejected his claims and Ali Khamenei
Ali Khamenei
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i is the Supreme Leader of Iran and the figurative head of the Muslim conservative establishment in Iran and Twelver Shi'a marja...
's representatives and Vice Chairman of National Security Commission of the parliament demanded Karroubi's arrest.
Detainee abuse
The release of some prisoners from Kahrizak on July 28, 2009 was followed by a number of testimonials in the foreign and opposition press on conditions inside the prison. Various news articles have reported on cramped and squalid cells where prisoners were routinely verbally abused and beaten by guards, some to death. Ahmad-Reza RadanAhmad-Reza Radan
Brigadier-General Ahmad Reza Radan is Deputy Commander of the Iranian police and as Tehran's police chief, infamous for his crackdown on "unIslamic" hair and dress style....
, according to one account, daily took part in these beatings. Ahmadi-Moghaddam has since denied these reports about Radan as unfounded rumors. Mohsen Ruholamini and Amir Javadifar were two of the prisoners reported to have died from torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
at Kahrizak. The medical report on Ruholamini's death originally stated that Ruholomini died of "physical stress, the effects of being held in bad conditions, multiple blows and severe injuries to the body." The physician who wrote this report, Ramin Pourandarjani
Ramin Pourandarjani
Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani was an Iranian physician who examined prisoners wounded and killed during the 2009 Iranian election protests...
, subsequently died in mysterious circumstances in police headquarters. The autopsy report for Javadifar stated that his death was caused by blunt trauma injury from severe beating.
National reactions
Following massive arrests of civilians and reformist activists by Iranian police, a number of Iranian intellectuals and reformist activists condemned the detentions, and called for the release of the imprisoned protesters.In an exceptionally strong and critical speech, the Iranian opposition leader, Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh is an Iranian reformist politician, artist and architect who served as the seventy-ninth and last Prime Minister of Iran from 1981 to 1989. He was a Reformist candidate for the 2009 presidential election and eventually the leader of the opposition in the post-election...
spoke out on July 17, 2009 against the arrests and killings of protesters. Erstwhile prime minister Moussavi said, "How can it be that the leaders of our country do not cry out and shed tears about these tragedies? ... Can they not see it, feel it? These things are blackening our country, blackening all our hearts. If we remain silent, it will destroy us all and take us to hell."
Grand Ayatollah Hosein-Ali Montazeri on 29 July demanded prosecution of anybody responsible for abuses. "Can the government deceive people by closing a detention center and blaming all the faults on a building?" he said. "What benefit does the government gain from the crisis, except angering the majority of the people and weakening the Islamic republic?" He added "Was the regime of the Shah able to resist the wave of dissatisfaction by using terror, oppression, censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
, torture, forced confessions and lying propaganda?"
Grand Ayatollah Asadollah Bayat-Zanjani
Asadollah Bayat-Zanjani
Grand Ayatollah Asadollah Bayat-Zanjani is an Iranian theologian, Islamic philosopher, writer and Grand marja of Islam...
said: "We are witnessing sorrowful acts committed in the name of the regime and under the banner of God that bring pain to the heart of all supporters of the Islamic republic."
Closure and investigations
Despite numerous reports of death and torture of arrested protesters in Iranian prisons, neither Iranian leader nor the Head of Judicial System took any measure to stop the crimes.The crimes were so grave that even several well known conservative politicians like Ali Motahhari expressed concerns about them.
It was only after the death of the son of one of the conservative politicians, that the Iranian leader Ali Khamenei
Ali Khamenei
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i is the Supreme Leader of Iran and the figurative head of the Muslim conservative establishment in Iran and Twelver Shi'a marja...
and head of Judicial System, Hashemi Shahroudi stepped in and ordered the closure of Kahrizak detention center.
An official announcement was made on August 5, 2009 that three prison wardens were arrested in connection with the torture of detainees at Kahrizak.
On December 19, 2009, Iranian authorities acknowledged that at least three protesters had been beaten to death in the Kahrizak jail. Twelve prison officials were charged with crimes, including murder.
The Iranian parliament assigned a committee to investigate the incidents. The committee released a report in January 2010 that implicated former Tehran prosecutor-general Saeed Mortazavi
Saeed Mortazavi
Saeed Murtazavi is a controversial Iranian jurist and former prosecutor of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, and Prosecutor General of Tehran, a position he has held from 2003 to 2009. He has been called as "butcher of the press" and "torturer of Tehran" by some observers...
as being behind the abuses. Days before the report was issued, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appointed Mortazavi as his special advisor on smuggling, which in effect was an attempt to shield Mortazavi from prosecution.