Iran Sufis on hunger strike, claim torture

Members of Gonabadi Sufi minority were arrested during violent clashes with security forces on February 19

Eight members of Iran’s Gonabadi Sufi minority are on hunger strike, Amnesty International said on Friday, protesting alleged torture in prison after protests in which security forces members were killed.

“One of the men, Abbas Dehghan, has allegedly been threatened with his wife being raped in front of him if he does not ‘confess’,” the rights group said in a statement.

Amnesty said the eight hunger strikers require medical care for injuries sustained during their arrest in the violent clashes with security forces on February 19.

The violence erupted during a demonstration by members of the Gonabadi order, known as dervishes, who were protesting the arrest of members of the sect, as well as rumours that their leader would soon be arrested.

One member of the sect has been sentenced to death for driving a bus into a group of police officers during the protests, killing three.

Two members of the Basij, an Islamic militia tasked with a number of policing duties, were also killed in the clashes.

The men on hunger strike are being held in Shapour detention centre in Tehran, Amnesty said, describing it as “notorious for extracting ‘confessions’ through torture”.

“Commonly reported methods of torture include kicking and punching; beatings with plastic pipes, cables or whips; prolonged binding; and various forms of suspension including one known as the ‘chicken kebab’, in which the person is suspended from a pole with their arms bent back and tied to their ankles and then flogged,” the group said. Over 300 people were arrested in the clashes.

At least 20 members of the sect have been charged so far, Amnesty said. It said one protester had died from injuries to his head, which he received during the clashes.