In an exclusive report published on April 21, 2010, a conservative news site claimed that three death sentences will be delivered in the case involving the torture and murder of at least three protesters held in the Kahrizak detention center south of Tehran.
The trial, presided by Judge Mohammad Mossadegh, is widely considered to be a gesture on the part of the regime to placate public opinion and put an end to the uproar caused by the murder, torture, and abuse of dozens of post-election protesters by punishing a small number of relatively junior officers for a tiny fraction of the crimes committed by the Islamic Republic's security forces. The judiciary has not announced any plans to prosecute anyone for the murders of dozens of other protesters, the documented cases of torture, or prison rape.
Farda News, not to be confused with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Radio Farda, wrote today, 'Based on what Farda has heard, the court trying the defendants in the Kahrizak case is ready to issue its verdicts and apparently death sentences have been issued for three of them.'
Farda did not explain why it would be privy to court verdicts which have yet to be announced publicly.
It is also unclear whether the secretive trial held behind closed doors will lead to justice or will ease concerns about human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic. The Armed Forces Judiciary Organization announced the start of the court hearings in a carefully worded and customarily uninformative statement released on March 9. The names of the 12 alleged defendants were withheld, but it was stated that the session was held in the presence of the 'next of kin, other plaintiffs, and their lawyers.'
Judge Mossadegh announced on the same day, 'Given that a portion of the case file contains information and topics whose publication would be detrimental to public order and discipline in the country, it is forbidden for those present in this court to publish information about the trial.'
Since the Armed Forces Judiciary Organization was trying the case, it was assumed at the time that the defendants were solely members of the Islamic Republic's security forces. The Farda News report however alleges, 'Two of the individuals sentenced to death are police officers and the other person is one of the louts and thugs who had been in Kahrizak from before.'
'Louts and thugs' -- arazel va obash -- is an unsavory term often used by the Islamic Republic when it is engaged in 'cleaning up' crime-ridden neighborhoods. The lack of information concerning this individual is particularly worrisome since he could be a common criminal set up as a scapegoat in this case. There are also reports that the judiciary is hiding the actual number of political prisoners by charging such individuals with common crimes.
Thousands of protesters in the post-election unrest of the summer were arrested by security forces and hundreds were held at the Kahrizak detention center, a fancy name for the collection of dark, stiflinng and unhygienic silos and partially buried structures, in conditions considered so inhumane that Leader Ali Khamanei was compelled to order it shut in late July. The conservative Farda News proudly proclaims this fact in its short report.
After months of denial and a less-than-convincing investigation into the abuse of prisoners and protesters by a special committee of the legislature, the Islamic Republic finally admitted that three individuals had been tortured to death at the facility, largely because one of the victims was Mohsen Rouholamini, 25, son of regime insider Abdolhossein Rouholamini. The other two victims finally recognized by the regime are Amir Javadifar, 25, and Mohammad Kamrani, 18. Farda News writes in a factually-challenged segment of its report, 'The representatives of the Majlis and officials of the judiciary have repeatedly stressed the importance of pursuing this case with determination and strongly punishing the transgressors.'
Rouholamini's head had been battered by a blunt instrument and his jaw was shattered. Then Health Minister Kamran Lankarani said that he had died from meningitis, a claim that Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani, a young conscript who visited Kahrizak once a week as a part of his military service, refused to second.
Javadifar, a student at Ghazvin University, died while he was being transferred from Kahrizak to Evin Prison. A friend who saw his body at the morgue told RFE/RL's Radio Farda, 'He had a fractured skull, one of his eyes was almost crushed, all the nails on his toes had been extracted, and all of his body was bruised.' Kamrani was arrested in Tehran's Vali Asr Square on July 9. He was tortured at Kahrizak and died of his injuries in Mehr Hospital.
The special investigative committee's report also fails to mention a number of other alleged deaths at Kahrizak, notably that of Ramin Aghazadeh Ghahremani, who died of his injuries after he was released. Aghazadeh Ghahremani was mentioned by Mohsen Rouholamini's father in a subsequent complaint about the special investigation's lack of zeal.
But the greatest shortcoming of what appears to be a sham trial is the absence of at least two senior officials in the defendants' box: Then Tehran Revolutionary Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi and National Police Commander Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam.
Mortazavi said that he was on vacation when the events occurred, a dog-ate-my-homework excuse (incidentally untrue) which has apparently convinced the judiciary of his innocence. Mortazavi was promoted to the post of deputy prosecutor general, then promoted again to head the national agency which fights financial corruption and smuggling.
Ahmadi Moghaddam announced that the atrocities were limited to the Kahrizak detention center and that they had been carried out by rogue elements.
His plea of innocence has also been accepted.
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