By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
TEHRAN, Iran – Authorities in Iran will investigate the death of a young doctor who testified about prisoner abuses before the Iranian Parliament. Reformist web sites allege that Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani was killed in order to keep him quiet. Pourandarjani’s testimony came in the wake of Iran’s disputed presidential election. The websites claim that he was the only independent witness to be able to verify the torture charges.
Pourandarjani’s body was found November 10 in his room at a health center in Tehran’s police headquarters. Iran’s Chief of Police said on November 18 that the doctor had committed suicide as a result of depression caused by his facing five years in prison. It was not specified what crime he was being accused of.
The police chief’s statement regarding suicide contradicted earlier statements by authorities who said that the young doctor died in his sleep of a heart attack at the Tehran police medical center. Anti-government sites claim that the authorities are involved in a cover up. Additionally, Pourandarjani’s friends claim that he told them that he was a witness to alleged police misconduct at Kahrizak prison.
Pourandarjani attended to prisoners at Kahrizak, a prison that was shut down in July after several prisoners died there. He worked there as part of his military service. Pourandarjani, according to opposition websites was arrested and held for a week by authorities who were pressuring him to change his account of what happened at Kahrizak.
The twenty six year old doctor treated anti-government demonstrators at Kahrizak. The prisoners were rounded up in a crackdown on the opposition that followed Iran’s June presidential election. The opposition disputed the election result, contending that that the rigged election allowed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad to prevail.
Iran formed a parliamentary committee to look into the post-election violence that is now planning on issuing a report on Kahrizak prison. Iranian media reports that at least three protesters died at Kahrizak under suspicious circumstances. Among the three was the son of a former senior Health Ministry official. The former official claims that his son was tortured to death. Iranian authorities attributed all three deaths to meningitis.
For more information, please see:
Al Jazeera – Suspicions Over Iran Doctor’s Death – 19 November 2009
New York Times – Iran: Doctor’s Death Raises Questions – 19 November 2009
Amnesty International USA – Iranian Authorities Must Investigate Death of Detention Centre Doctor – 18 November 2009
Washington Post – Mystery Surrounds Iranian Military Doctor’s Cause of Death – 18 November 2009
