Iran inmates 'tortured to death'

[Heidi]

Source: BBC

Page last updated at 04:12 GMT, Friday, 14 August 2009 05:12 UK

One of Iran's defeated opposition presidential candidates has said some protesters held after July's disputed poll were tortured to death in prison.

The claim by Mehdi Karroubi comes days after he said a number of prisoners, both male and female, had been raped.

Officials deny the rape claims, but admit that abuses have taken place.

<snip>

On Thursday, Mr Karroubi alleged that a number of detainees had been tortured to death.

"Some young people are beaten to death just for chanting slogans in protests," his website said.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8200780.stm

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Earlier, related Latest Breaking News Thread
Probe urged into Iran jail 'rape'

[formercia]

1. K&R

This is what we get for setting an example.

[Rebubula]

4. LOL WUT?

Do you even know history?

I am certainly aware that the US has a lot of blood on its hands from the Iraq invasion and prison abuses, but to think that Iran was puppies and fucking rainbows before we committed our own atrocities is simply ignorant.

The Iranian Savak (their CIA\Mossad group) is legendary in the torture world. Just a simple wiki link will give you a small idea -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAVAK - our crimes do not even come close.

Yes...America did some very bad things (and will again...damn weak group human nature), but to attempt to ascribe other groups atrocities as only occurring because of us is willfully ignorant.

[formercia]

5. I know about SAVAK

I knew about them 30 years ago.

It's not as if we can lecture the Basij on using torture.

[Rebubula]

6. Fine..

...just do not act like our actions are the only reason other people act like assholes.

[Soylent Brice]

7. i think you might have missed the point,

and correct me if i'm wrong formercia,

we, as a former supposed beacon of civility/anti-torture/pro-human rights country now have no right to stand on our soap box of righteous indignation. we lost the moral high ground we had (if any), and our actions will be used as an excuse for years by others.

basically, it is OUR own fault that others have an "excuse" for such behavior now because we can no longer speak out against it without a mighty hefty amount of hypocrisy in tow.

we were supposed to be the example to follow. not so much anymore.

[Rebubula]

8. I understand..

...the point that has been made on this topic many times. I just do not agree that we need to look at it that way.

No one has an 'excuse' for any of this. However, just because we have some taint on our reputation does not mean that we cannot point out worse abuses.

Human history is chock full of horrible examples of people abusing others. We did not start anything, we are not the epicenter of torture. Humans have been hurting each other since our inception.

Just because we are not the shining example anymore does not mean that we cannot point out other crimes and CERTAINLY does not mean that these other crimes were committed because of our actions.

I just get tired of seeing posts that imply that all of the bad things going on in other countries is because they are following our lead. As my Grandfather's Theology professor once said - 'Man is no damned good'.

[Soylent Brice]

9. i read you loud and clear,

but i just don't think formercia meant what you were thinking.

that's all.

of course we're not solely responsible for the existence of all torture. that's absurd.

but we are responsible for what we have done in yours and my name. and we are no longer the standard bearer. if we want to speak out against them, i recommend we clean our own house out first.

and i agree, "man is no damned good", but i'll add "most of the time."

peace.

[hugo_from_TN]

18. Disagree completely.

We can and should speak out against torture and prisoner abuse regardless of what we've done in the past. It's called progress.

[BOG PERSON]

19. Regardless of what we've always done and are still doing, you mean?

That's not progress, that's a double-standard.

[Soylent Brice]

20. of course we should speak out, and act against torture,

but until we clean out our own skeletons we can't expect other countries to follow suit.

[Mira]

12. Well said. Very well said. Will now give the 5th recommendation

[Soylent Brice]

21. thank you.

:)

[Doctor_J]

10. He's talking about setting an example of justifying it

There is no longer any reason for Iran to lie about torturing people. Bush set the precedent by bragging that he approved torture.

[MetaTrope]

13. My name is George W. Bush, and I approve this message

[dixiegrrrrl]

17. You just gave me an idea

Print up a bunch of the "public domain" pictures like that, the ones from Abu Grahib,

with same message
various names

Cick Cheney
John Yoo
David Addison
Donald Rumsfield
etc etc

and variations on this idea for all of the Bush era criminals.

You want free way blogging?
Telephone pole signs.

etc etc.

[The Stranger]

14. But the information regarding the torture camps at Gitmo and others the CIA had set up has been kept

from us. So you really can't make a complete comparison.

In fact, the U.S. torture program actually formulated its torture methods from other torture programs.

[peacebird]

2. Good thing America would never engage in such tactics!.... oh, wait... we did.

[hack89]

3. Oh - then it is OK for Iran to do it. Good to know.

I can move on to more important things.

[The Stranger]

15. Hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue.

So go ahead, move on.

[hack89]

23. Don't you find that hair shirt uncomfortable in the summer? nt

[The Stranger]

24. Is that you moving on? n/t

[hack89]

25. I can multi-task nt

[Odin2005]

11. Monsters.

:puke:

[BOG PERSON]

16. Neda died for nothing...

:cry:

[Haole Girl]

26. I wouldn't say that

People won't forget. They just don't have the ability, right now, to overthrow this maniac. :-(

[BOG PERSON]

22. It's clear the "loyal opposition" is moving goalposts.

The deaths of at least three people in custody... prompted Iran to jail the head of the Kahrizak detention centre.

God knows how many people were tortured to death at Abu Ghraib and what was the punishment for that? Two years and a fucking book deal.

[Vidar]

27. K&R