U.N. experts say Iran tortured to extract confessions

Three independent United Nations human rights experts have accused Iran of torturing confessions from detainees charged with fomenting political unrest, the international organization said Thursday. “No judicial system can consider as valid a confession obtained as a result of harsh interrogations or under torture,” said Manfred Nowak, who is the U.N

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Iran speaker rejects detainee rape claims

Iran’s influential parliament speaker dismissed allegations that post-election detainees were raped while in custody, calling the claims by an opposition leader "sheer lies," state-run media reported Wednesday. Ali Larijani said that a special panel of Iran’s parliament, or Majlis, conducted a “precise and comprehensive inquiry” into the treatment at Tehran’s Evin and Kahrizak prisons, and found “no cases of rape or sexual abuse,” Press TV reported

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Iraqi foreign minister asks Iran about detained hikers

Iraq’s foreign minister asked for details about three American citizens arrested in Iran during a meeting with Iran’s ambassador in Baghdad last week, Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari met with Iranian Ambassador Hassan Kazimi Qummi on Thursday, the statement said.

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Britain blasts Iran over trial of embassy staffer

A British embassy staffer has gone on trial in Tehran Saturday for his involvement in the post-election demonstrations in Iran, Britain’s Foreign Office has confirmed. The staffer was identified as locally employed political analyst Hossein Rassam. A Foreign Office spokesperson told CNN: “This is completely unacceptable and directly contradicts assurances we have repeatedly been given by Iranian officials

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Iran’s Show Trials: The Hard-Liners Build Their Case

On Sunday, Iran’s state TV broadcast a wrenching and stunning 20-minute confession from a well-known public figure. But former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a reformist cleric, was clearly not himself. For one, he was not allowed to wear his clerical robe, and he had lost visible weight

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Moussavi, Khatami blast Iran trials

Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi and reformist former President Mohammad Khatami on Sunday blasted the trials of people arrested in post-election demonstrations. Those on trial had been tortured into confessions, Moussavi said in a statement posted on his Ghalam News Web site. “They have been stepped on so severely that they would have confessed to anything else, had they been instructed to do so,” Moussavi said.

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