Human Rights Watch urges action from Iranian judiciary

In a letter to the head of Iranian Judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, Human Rights Watch called for an impartial investigation of senior officials in the attacks against the post-election peaceful protests.
The letter particularly urges the judiciary to “investigate the roles of Hussein Taeb, head of Basij Resistance Forces, General Esmaeel Ahamdi Moghaddam, Chief of Police, Hojatoleslam Abdol-Hussein Ramazani, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps intelligence division, and Saeed Mortazavi, Tehran's General Prosecutor.” The violent crackdown on protesters of the June elections has caused at list 30 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

Human Rights Watch cites evidence of torture and physical beatings in Kahrizak, Evin and Basij detention centres. The letter calls on the new head of the judiciary to close down all secret detention centres and probe into all charges of detainee mistreatment.

The letter also points out that the mass trial of the prominent reformists on ‘vague charges of “conspiracy”’ lacks the international standards for a fair trial.

Human Rights Watch also urged a reopening of the cases of Zahra Kazemi and Zahra Bani-Yaghoub who were also killed whilst in custody in 2003 and 2007 respectively. They also call for the release or fair trial of the seven Baha’is detained in Iran since 2008.

The letter expresses its hope that Sadegh Larijani in his new capacity as the Head of Judiciary would address these issues in a timely and decisive manner.