Iranians pursue their protests through judiciary

ISNA-Parviz Sorouri

Parviz Sorouri, head of the special parliamentary committee investigating charges of violations committed by State security and armed forces against recent election protesters announced that because of the “high density and number” of the complaints, under normal conditions it will take a year to process all the cases.

Mr. Sorouri added that in order to speed up the process more judges have been assigned to the cases.

He also announced that the trial of Kahrizak officials will soon take place in order to process the 104 cases that have been prepared in connection with them.

Kahrizak is the infamous Detention Centre that was closed down by the order of Ayatollah Khamenei during the post-election protests, after outrage over the torture and killing of detainees at this centre became unmanageable.

Earlier, Tehran’s military prosecutor reported that seven police officials have been arrested in connection with Kahrizak. Iran’s National Police has also announced that they have dismissed and arrested seven officers for the arbitrary torture of detainees.

The identities of these officers have not been revealed so far. Their trial though referred to on many occasions has not taken shape.

In the meantime, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said on occasion that violence in the prisons and detention centres has only been committed by “enemy infiltrators.”

Head of Tehran judiciary Alireza Avaee told ISNA today that the sentences have been issued in the case 20 people charged in the post-election events. He added that the sentences are not finalized and can still be appealed.