Evin Prison Doctor Who Wrote Report On Dead Blogger Sattar Beheshti’s Torture Death Arrested

Evin prison physician who had examined the injured Sattar Beheshti (the blogger who died under torture while in custody) has been arrested and detained in the Intelligence Ministry’s Ward 209 in Evin prison.

According to Kaleme site, Dr. Reza Pourhaydar, the Evin physician was the doctor on duty at the medical clinic in Evin on the day that Sattar Beheshti was taken there.

According to prison’s regulations, every new prisoner arrived at the prison must be sent to the prison clinic for examination and a medical file is created for that prisoner.

When Sattar Beheshti arrived at Evin, according to the regulations he was sent to the infirmary and was examined by Dr. Pourhaydar. His report of the examination indicated the signs of beatings and torture on Beheshti’s body.

After this report was prepared by Dr. Pourhaydar he no longer was permitted to examine other Ward 350 political prisoners and was transferred to the ward for prisoners convicted on financial charges.

Dr. Pourhaydar was arrested last week and imprisoned in the Intelligence Ministry’s Ward 209 at Evin prison.

Last week it was reported that an informed source in the case of Sattar Beheshti has said that the family of Sattar Beheshti have recently found out that the forensic report indicated bleeding of the lungs, liver, kidney and cerebellum. According to this informed source the coroner’s report that is included in Sattar’s file leaves no doubts that the cause of Sattar Beheshti’s death was due to internal bleeding and brain hemorrhaging.

In September of last year, the coroner’s report claimed that Sattar Beheshti’s death was caused due to stress. At the same time, political prisoner Abolfazl Abedini, who was incarcerated in Ward 350 and had seen Sattar’s condition, was summoned to the special prosecutor’s office as a witness and interrogated and threatened to be exiled several times. Ultimately this threat was carried out and Abedini was exiled to Ahvaz Karoon prison.

This form of confronting and dealing with witnesses has a long history. The most famous persecution and illegal actions against a witness was the case of Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani, the physician who had examined victims of the torture deaths in Kahrizak detention center prior to their death. This 26 year old physician died under suspicious circumstances at his place of work in November of 2009.

Initially, the officials announced this young physician’s cause of death as a heart attack, then as suicide, and ultimately, the coroner’s office announced the cause of death as poisoning. Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani was buried without his family being allowed an autopsy.

Sources close to Dr. Pournandarjani say that, prior to his death, he had disclosed details of the torture death of the Kahrizak detention center’s victims. According to these sources, Dr. Pournandarjani had testified as a witness before Parliament’s Special Committee members formed to deal with the status and situation of the victims of the post-election events.

It seems that putting pressure on the witnesses and doctors is one of the methods that the intelligence officials resort to for escaping the crisis they create.

The Intelligence and Judicial authorities, instead of prosecuting the people responsible for the torture death of Sattar Beheshti, have put on their agenda persecuting the people who exposed this crime, and arresting of Dr. Pourhaydar fits this agenda.

The arrest of Dr. Pourhaydar has created much concerns for the other Evin prison physicians, that in the event they report on the torture of prisoners the same fate awaits them.

According to the political prisoners in Evin, Dr. Pourhaydar despite the existence of security atmosphere at Evin prison’s medical clinic had not forgotten his oath and despite the efforts by some of the clinic’s personnel to stop him from doing his job properly always provided care and treatment for the sick prisoners.

Source: Kaleme

Shocking Letter By Incarcerated Political Prisoner Abolfazl Abedini To Judiciary Chief

Political prisoner Abolfazl Abedini, who was illegally transferred from Evin prison to Karoon prison in Ahvaz, has written a letter to the Judiciary Chief, Ayatollah Amoli Larijani detailing his violent arrest, the hardships he has suffered during imprisonment, and his sudden transfer to Ahvaz.

Following is the text of Abedini’s letter to Ayatollah Larijani:

Your excellency Ayatollah Amoli Larijani, Chief Judiciary,

Greetings,

Following is a letter written by a young man who, four years ago in a court under your jurisdiction, was sentenced to twelve years imprisonment, and, in the last four years, has each day faced new and more complex penalties.

The honorable Ayatollah Amoli Larijani,

Many times in response to criticism from the human rights associations and the international organizations you have spoken of the Islamic Human Rights. Aside from the meaning of this interpretation, there is a contrast between facts and claims in the judicial cases that we see. I ponder the point that, it is apparent that we don’t really believe it when we say, “humans are the noblest of the creatures, and are endowed with magnanimity”.

Four years ago, the enforcers of your excellency’s branch, raided my home without a warrant, invaded our privacy, and assaulted and beat my family members who were asking them to uphold the rule of law and show a warrant.

Your excellency is well aware that according to the Constitution, the Code of criminal procedures and the Civil Rights Act of the Islamic Republic, this method of behavior is illegal and inconsistent with the rule of law and is contrary to human dignity.

The honorable Chief Judiciary,

Aside from the method used in arresting this accused, when I was rolling in pain from being hit and kicked, and from the blows with a cable to my frail feet, again the terms of “civil rights” and “the rights of the accused” were dancing before my eyes and in my mind. That how could the people who thought of themselves as the enforcers of the Justice Department have made such a mockery of it all.

Needless to say, all of this violence and beatings were as a result of me not accepting the charges that were unfounded and not true, with the hopes that I would receive justice, from all this injustice, in a court of law.

After some months, and after suffering things that I do not find permissible to mention and find speaking of them an insult to my own human dignity, and an insult to our nation and country, finally I appeared before the Court.

Describing the calamity of what occurred during the arrest and interrogation sessions to a Court which did not even permit me to consult with my lawyer, was to no avail and had no effect on the already decided matter at the bench.

Twelve years imprisonment was determined as my punishment as compensation for all my activities to benefit my country, battling all with thoughts of or actions towards separatism, and defense of labor rights.

The sound of the Judge’s hammer hitting the Bench of Justice made me realize that the trial and sentencing was apparently over.

At age twenty seven, I became a captive, and when the pages of my life’s calendar next turn, it will show the number fourty.

Ayatollah Amoli Larijani,

Suppose that the end result of all of my endeavors for the benefit of my nation resulted in twelve years captivity. But, why, when I have chosen to breath the air of my dear Iran, even behind bars, over any other option, then must I be under continued pressure and hardship applied by those who inflict them?

Why is my family threatened with arrest? Why, while I am imprisoned, new sentences are issued for me? Why, now that I have accepted this great injustice and am studying in prison for about a year now, they have plundered my mental wellbeing with overt and hidden threats? And why did they suddenly increase my sentence without a trial and exiled me to another city?

Your excellency Ayatollah Amoli Larijani,

Your honor is well aware that once before I was exiled after testifying in Sattar Beheshti’s case. And now for the second time, in the middle of my studying term, once again I have been lashed with this injustice.

What has been inflicted upon me, from the day of my arrest until now that I am incarcerated in Ahvaz prison, is replete with injustice, and a disregard for human dignity and civil and religious rights.

My case is the symbol of human rights violations and arbitrarily and illegal decisions. Ask your enforcers and the Revolutionary Court why, after issuing such heavy and unjust sentence, do they not leave me alone.

The honorable Judiciary Chief,

Yet, I am sure you are aware that prison terms over 10 years must be appealed and reviewed by the Supreme Court. This has not occurred in my case in the last four years.

Now, bewildered from this injustice, and helpless as to which court of law I must take this injustice to. So, with my deteriorating health, I have put my life on the line, and have embarked on a hunger strike so perhaps some justice seeking ears, or visionary eyes may pay attention to my story, so the “end result” of this case may become a testimony of what is called “the candor of the Islamic human rights”.

Abolfazl Abedini Nasr
Karoon Prison, Ahvaz
July 30, 2013

Source: Kaleme