The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported today that along with Amnesty International and Physicians for Human Rights, it sent a letter to Iranian authorities demanding an investigation into the death of Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani, a 26-year-old physician at the Kahrizak detention center, “who reportedly witnessed grave human rights violations there.”
Iranhumanrights.org:
“Scores of protestors were detained and held at Kahrizak, where they were allegedly tortured and ill treated. At least four detainees died in the facility. Iranian authorities have promised to investigate the ill treatment of detainees at Kahrizak but to date, no public announcements about the prosecution of those responsible have been made.”
Pourandarjani had been working at Kahrizak once a week as part of his military service, treating detainees who had been tortured. Some reportedly died of their abuses in the facility. Before his death, Dr. Pourandarjani “reportedly received threats to prevent him from revealing the abuses he had witnessed at Kahrizak.” He was also said to “have been forced to certify that one detainee had died of meningitis.” (Our readers will remember that detainee was Mohsen Roholamini, the son of an aid to the conservative presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei. Parleman news reported in August that the coroner’s office of Tehran announced that he did not die from meningitis, leading to the conclusion that he had been killed in Kahrizak.)
Amnesty and ICHRI describe the suspicious circumstances behind the doctor’s death:
Back to top“Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani’s body was discovered in a room at Tehran police headquarters on 10 November. While the Chief of Police, General Esmaeil Ahmadi-Moqaddam, has said that Dr. Pourandarjani, committed suicide and that a letter found near his body suggested that he had been depressed, officials had initially said he had suffered a heart attack in his sleep and later that he had died of poisoning. Dr. Pourandarjani’s father, Reza-Qoli Pourandarjani, said he had spoken to his son the night before his death and that he did not appear to be depressed. He told the Associated Press that he had initially been informed by the authorities that his son had broken his leg in an accident and that his [the father’s] consent was needed for surgery. However after travelling to Tehran from his home in Tabriz, Reza-Qoli Pourandrarjani discovered that his son was dead.”