Post-election Iran violations among worst in 20 years

international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press Tuesday December 15, 2009 15:45 by Mina

Here are extracts from a report by Amnesty International which documents the outrages carried out by Iranian militia and police. Vids and the full text is at the link.

Human rights violations in Iran are now as bad as at any time in the past 20 years, Amnesty International has said in a new report on the aftermath of last June’s presidential election.

"The Iranian leadership must ensure that the many allegations of torture, including rape, unlawful killings and other abuses are fully and independently investigated," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.

The report, Iran: Election contested, repression compounded describes patterns of abuse before, during and, particularly, after the June election, when the authorities deployed the Basij militia and Revolutionary Guards to suppress mass protests against its disputed outcome.It includes testimonies from individuals who were detained during the protests, some of whom have since been forced to flee the country.

One former detainee says he was held at the notorious Kahrizak detention centre for some 58 days, being held in a shipping container throughout, and only allowed to contact his family after 43 days.

During interrogation, he was told that his son had been detained and would be raped if he did not "confess" and he was then beaten with a baton until he lost consciousness. He said there were more than 70 other detainees held in the container with him.