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| Aug 10 06:04 AM US/Eastern By ALI AKBAR DAREINI Associated Press Writer We reported about the “Wedding Nights” in Iranian prisons. Excerpt: “… the girls were more afraid of their ‘wedding’ night than of the execution. And they would always fight back, so we would have to put sleeping pills in their food. By morning the girls would have an empty expression; it seemed like they were ready or wanted to die. I remember hearing them cry and scream after [the rape] was over,” he said. “I will never forget how this one girl clawed at her own face and neck with her finger nails afterwards. She had deep scratches all over her.”Now there’s more. You know there’s always more… |
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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – An Iranian opposition leader said Sunday that detained protesters are alleging male and female prisoners were savagely raped by their jailers to the point of physical and mental damage.Mahdi Karroubi, one of two defeated pro-reform candidates in the disputed June 12 presidential election, said he has received the reports of rapes from former military commanders and other senior officials and he called for an investigation.”A number of detainees have stated that some female detainees were so severely raped that their genitals were damaged. Others savagely raped young boys so that they suffer from depression and serious physical and mental damage,” Karroubi said in a letter posted on his Web site. He said such crimes, if proven true, would “disgrace” Iran’s Islamic ruling system. He did not name any officials who made the rape claims. Continued below… News Links:
Jailed Iranian Women Converts to Christianity Face Death, Refuse Court Pressure To “Deny Christ”By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife
Maryam Rustampoor, 27, and Marzieh Amirizadeh, 30, appeared Sunday, August 9, in front of a ‘revolutionary court’ in the capital Tehran where they were pressured to return to Islam, according to well-informed Christians linked to Elam Ministries, a group supporting Iran’s growing church movement. “Though great pressure was put on them, both women declared that they would not deny their faith,” the Christians said. Both women, who reportedly suffer health problems, were detained March 5 for converting to Christianity. They endured solitary confinement, interrogations ”for many hours while blindfolded” and other mistreatment in Tehran’s Evin prison, well-informed Christians said. Senior police and judiciary officials acknowledged over the weekend that opposition detainees have been abused in prison and called for those responsible to be punished, apparently in an effort to calm public outrage over the mistreatment and death of prisoners. More from BosNewsLife
Continued, Rape Jihad, Iran Both the opposition and some vocal critics within the government’s conservative support base have railed against mistreatment and deaths of prisoners, presenting another obstacle to silencing postelection unrest. The opposition claims the election was rigged in favor of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and that pro-reform challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi was the true winner. Iran has confirmed at least 30 people have died in the country’s worst unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, though human rights activists say the toll is likely far higher. The country’s chief prosecutor said about 200 protesters and opposition figures are still detained. Karroubi sent the letter to powerful cleric and former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who has backed reformists in the election dispute. In it, he asks Rafsanjani to bring the matter to the attention of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He also called on Rafsanjani to direct one of the clerical bodies he leads to form a committee to investigate the claims. Rafsanjani heads the Assembly of Experts, an elected body of 86 clerics whose official role is to oversee the supreme leader’s performance. Karroubi said he did not send the letter to Ahmadinejad because he considers his presidency illegitimate. The mistreatment of detainees arrested in the crackdown on protesters has extended far beyond the reformist camp. Influential figures in Iran’s clerical hierarchy have also condemned the abuses and the three deaths known to have taken place at the Kahrizak prison, which is at the center of the abuse claims. Iran’s prosecutor general called Sunday for those responsible for mistreatment to be punished and said protesters weren’t even meant to be taken to Kahrizak prison, located on the southern outskirts of the capital, Tehran. The country’s police chief Gen. Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam on Sunday also acknowledged protesters were beaten by their jailers at the same facility but maintained that the deaths in the prison were caused by a virus, not abuse. The head of the prison has since been arrested along with three guards there and the prison has been closed. About 100 of the detained opposition figures and protesters are on trial for charges including trying to overthrow the government. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called it a “show trial” in a weekend interview and said the U.S. supports the opposition. |
TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)– Two young Iranian women who may face the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity have told a court that they will not abandon their faith in Christ, despite harsh treatment in one of Iran’s most notorious prisons, Christian trial observers confirmed to BosNewsLife Monday, August 10.
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So dear Blog-owner, why you keep on using the word Jihad? You did so also with the new item about the lazer blinding of a pilot in South Australia – you called it Lesser Jihad – which in fact I find interesting and sort of an admission on your part that there is a lesser and greater Jihad. I find none of the two has anything to do with Jihad at all, the first if the two Turks prove to be part of a militant islamist group then perhaps – it is possible. The above item is about internal Iranian politics and the problem of having revolutionary militants in charge of providing law and order by ultra-conservative theocrats. The rape issue is terrible and at least now it has been admitted and be sure the regime will punish hard to give the image of appeasing the demonstrators. FYI I know Iran very well, when I was posted to Ankara in Turkey for two years in our embassy I had a reporting function for Iran and was there almost every other month.
Dear Blog-owner, keeping to my principle of acknowledging mistakes, I note that I read the title of one of your posts incorrect. Laser Jihad when I thought you said Lesser Jihad. I apologize without exception for the error, forgive an aging man whom needs his wife to constantly remind him to put his newly prescribed glasses on. The question about using the word Jihad on both that and this posting still is valid.