Poor Conditions of Dr. Ali Akbar Soroush in Prison: Sari Intelligence Office’s Unprecedented Pressure and Interrogation

Student sources told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that 40 days after the arrest of Dr. Ali Akbar Soroush, a Mazandaran University professor and head of Participation Front’s Mazandaran Branch, he remains at Sari’s Intelligence Ministry detention center under immense pressure and continued interrogation.

In a letter entitled “Indictment,” a copy of which has been sent to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Alireza Felahati, a student leader of the Mazandaran Participation Party, has expressed support for the university professor.  Falahati himself was arrested on the night of 17 February 2010 after security forces stormed his home.  He was released after 30 days in solitary confinement under difficult conditions.

News Background:

Ali Akbar Soroush , member of Mir Hossein Mousavi’s campaign staff in the Mazandaran Province, has been brutally tortured by Mazandaran Intelligence agents over the past month to make confessions against himself.  Sources close to this political activist have expressed concern about his poor physical condition, reporting that he has resisted making the fake confessions so far.

A Babol Science and Technology University authority told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that Dr. Ali Akbar Soroush has been dismissed from his teaching position at the university on orders from Ministry of Intelligence.  Dr. Soroush is a professor of Islamic History and a member of the Babol Science and Technology University faculty.  He was arrested by Intelligence Ministry agents 40 days ago after he went to the Babol Prosecutor’s Office.  His charges are unknown.  He was transferred to Sari Intelligence Office Prison (Shahid Kachooee) and his family and lawyer have been unable to visit him so far.