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Tehran MP talks torture, forced confessions among detainees in Iran

Tehran MP talks torture, forced confessions among detainees in Iran
posted onSeptember 25, 2019
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Tehran’s representative at the Iranian parliament Gholamreza Heydari has warned the Iranian president Hassan Rouhani as the head of the Supreme National Security Council, about “the tortures faced by detained environmental activists” and talked about those who have been accused of assassinating nuclear scientists.

At a public session of the parliament on Tuesday, Heydari claimed the innocence of those individuals who have been mistakenly accused of assassinating nuclear scientists. He asked for revision in the process of the “exposure of crime for the political detainees.”

Quoting the Minister of Intelligence’s statement on the innocence of those who have been accused of the assassinations, he added that “one must ask how the interrogators of the case had made such a huge mistake.”

Heydari has also mentioned the case of environmental activists and explained that these activists are still under custody despite the Ministry of Intelligence’s admission that they are not spies. 

The case of Iran’s nuclear assassination has been in the spotlight since August, following a televised documentary on the BBC Persian TV network.

The BBC documentary revealed that Maziar Ebrahimi – who had confessed during another program broadcast on the state-run television in July 2012 that he had collaborated with Israeli intelligence services to assassinate the Iranian nuclear scientists – spoke about the baseless charges against him, forced confession and the cruel torture that he had suffered while in custody.

According to the reports published in the Iranian media, Niloufar Bayani, one of eight jailed environmental activists, also said in the second court hearing that she had confessed under pressure and threats from interrogators and security forces.