Human rights organizations on Friday, September 1, issued a demand for a thorough inquiry into the demise of an Iranian individual who was detained in connection with the protests from the previous year. They asserted that he had been subjected to “extremely brutal torture.”
Human rights groups on Friday called for an investigation into the death in prison of an Iranian man arrested over last year’s protests, alleging he had been “horrifically tortured”.
Javad Rouhi, 31, was arrested in September 2022 in Nowshahr in the northern Mazandaran province during the widespread protests that erupted over the death of Mahsa Amini who had been arrested for allegedly violating the strict dress rules for women.
He was convicted two months later and sentenced to death, although the sentence was later struck down and a retrial ordered.
Human Rights Watch said he was “horrifically tortured” following his arrest and then died “under suspicious circumstances” on August 31, 2023.
Norway-based Iran Human Rights echoed that he died “under suspicious circumstances”.
The Iranian judiciary’s Mizan Online news website reported he died early Thursday “after suffering a seizure while in prison” in Nowshahr.
According to HRW, which cited an informed source, he had in custody suffered torture including being exposed to freezing temperatures and having ice cubes placed on his testicles and other parts of his body for 48-hour periods.
IHR’s director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, said Rouhi’s death must be investigated “as an extrajudicial killing in prison” by the UN fact-finding mission set up to investigate human right abuse committed during Iran’s crackdown on the protests.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
