Alleged protester abuse at Mashad Revolutionary Courts

Mashad has witnessed several weeks of attacks by Ansar and pro-government plainclothes forces on Mashad universities and Ayatollah Saneie’s offices in the city, refusal to deal with known thugs, arrests of more than 300 students of Mashad University, prolonging detentions, scores of open case files for students in Revolutionary Courts, and very heavy bail orders. A Mashad University student who has requested anonymity has spoken about the Revolutionary Court’s conduct with International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

International Campaign for Human Rights will keep the identities of the mentioned individuals confidential until such time that ICHRhas been able to contact the victims.

This student activist says: “Even prior to the arrival of Judiciary Investigators […] and […], the treatment of student activists by security officers was harsh and above and beyond the law. Illegal detentions, long-term solitary confinement, and threats on family members have always gone on, but since Investigator […] arrived, the treatment has gradually entered a new stage.” According to this student, some interrogators engage in direct physical abuse of the suspects. In one instance, the interrogator used a Taser to torture the students. He says one of the main authorities in Mashad’s Revolutionary Courts (International Campaign for Human Rights is withholding this individual’s name until further investigation) injured two students with a Taser at a police station, such that even after their release, one of the students had burn marks on his body. The student added: “And we must not forget white torture. One of the students was threatened with force feeding of feces by Mr. […], the detained students were moved to a ward in police headquarters where sodomy convicts are kept and rape threats were made in police headquarters and Mashad Ministry of Information in at least one case about which I know.” He added: “[…] has frequently summoned female students and has displayed inappropriate and un-Islamic behavior such as locking the doors, reading the female detainees’ personal message aloud and laughing, threatening the detainees with divulging their personal matters, and occasionally using a strange and very intimate tone in addressing the female detainees.”

Mashad Revolutionary and Provincial courts have demanded high bail amounts for release of detainees. In two days 200 Mashad Azad University students and 100 Ferdowsi, Khayyam, and Sajjad University students were arrested.