Concealment of Post Election Period Violence by Iranian Authorities Continues

Human rights abuses extends as far as six months after June 12 presidential election in Iran, says Amnesty.
Concealment of Post Election Period Violence by Iranian Authorities Continues
12/10/2009
Updated:
12/10/2009

Authorities inside the Iranian regime have been focusing on covering up accounts of horrendous human rights abuses conducted after the June 12 presidential election in Iran, extending as far as six months after the fact, says Amnesty International.

The report was published in the wake of the violence and arrests of Iranian protesters on Monday commemorating Student Day, a day that recognizes the death of three Iranian students in 1953 during the Mohamed Reza Pahlavi Shahs’ regime.

The report states the Iranian authorities “have acted as part of a repressive state machinery to allow the security forces to act with impunity,” resulting in the arrest of over 4,000 Iranians, and the deaths of 36 people—though sources put the death toll over 70—with the total number of Iranian executions since the elections well over 100.

The report also references graphic accounts of rape of both women and men, with instruments such as a baton or a bottle.

Amnesty International has been monitoring the post-election events from outside Iran, requesting in various forms—including contacting the Iranian Embassy in London—for meetings on the subject of violence against its people and permission to attend trials in Iran, including the most recent mass “show” trials broadcasted on Iranian state television, but to no avail.

Intelligence Minister Criticizes Former Iranian President

The Iranian regime’s Intelligence minister, Heydar Moslehi, denounced senior clerics who supported the opposition leader Mir Hossain Mousavi, specifically naming the former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was recently banned from speaking at the Friday prayer sessions moderated by high-ranking Iranian authorities.

“Shockingly, Rafsanjani expresses the same ideas that come in the statements of [opposition] leaders,” said Moslehi during a gathering of pro-government clerics in the city of Qom on Thursday.

Rafsanjani’s support for Mousavi and public criticism of the regime’s violence against the post-election protesters has had extenuating ramifications that only most recently have bubbled to the surface, say experts.

Rafasanjani’s outspoken voice hints at a larger divide in the power structure within the regime.