Pressure on Dr. Ali Akbar Soroush for Confession

Several sources told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that Dr. Ali Akbar Soroush has been under torture by the Mazandaran Ministry of Intelligence Office over the past few days to make confessions against himself. Dr. Soroush was a member of Mir Hossein Mousavi’s election campaign in Mazandaran. Sources close to Ali Akbar Soroush said that he is in dire health condition and that he has been detained under very poor conditions in solitary confinement, but that he has resisted making fake confessions under pressure so far.

Earlier this year, during show trials of those who were arrested after the Iranian elections, many people on trial made fake confessions against themselves. It seems now that similar scenarios are under way for activists in other Iranian cities. Separate sources told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that the Ministry of Intelligence and IRGC plan to extract confessions from Northern Iran political activists.

Dr. Ali Akbar Soroush was a member of Mir Hossein Mousavi’s campaign in Babol. During the 2005 presidential elections he served as head of the reformist Moeen’s campaign. He was formerly head of the Education Organization of Babol and a faculty member of Babol Science and Technology University.