Iran politician says 3,700 were arrested in 10 days of protest
US analysts say conservative opponents of president Hassan Rouhani started the demonstrations
Activists in Iran say at least three demonstrators have died in jail in Tehran after being arrested during the recent protests.
Two members of the reformist wing of parliament named one detainee, Sina Ghanbari, saying he had died in Evin prison. Separately, human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh said at least two more protesters had also died in jail, but did not identify them.
Ms Sotoudeh does not believe Ghanbari killed himself, as the authorities maintain. “I spoke to a prisoner in Evin prison and I was told three detainees had lost their lives,” she said. “When authorities resort to mass arrests, they cannot claim to protect their rights. It is not possible in such a situation for the judicial process to take its due course.”
The outspoken reformist politician Mahmoud Sadeghi yesterday said about 3,700 people – a far higher number than originally thought – were arrested over the 10 days of the protests. The Iranian parliament’s official website, icana.ir, quoted him as saying it was difficult to keep track of the exact number of those detained because different security and intelligence forces were involved.
Mr Sadeghi did not say where the figure of 3,700 came from but it would constitute nearly 10 per cent of the 42,000 people that the Iranian interior minister says took part in the protests. Previously, authorities had said “hundreds” were arrested in Tehran alone; they did not offer a nationwide figure.
There is also concern over unofficial detention centres such as Kahrizak, which was used to hold those arrested during the 2009 protests. It emerged afterwards that a number of them had been tortured and killed there.
“I warn the president, intelligence and judicial officials against the repeat of a second Kahrizak,” Mr Sadeghi said on Twitter.
On Sunday, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said that 70 of those held have been released on bail in the preceding two days. He said there would be more releases, except for the main instigators of the riots, who will be “dealt with seriously”. At a closed session, senior security officials briefed parliament on the protests and the conditions of the detainees, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, yesterday blamed “Americans and Zionists” for the protests but president Hassan Rouhani has referred to the authorities being out of touch with the youth. Officials say the average age of those arrested was 25. By contrast, most of those taking part in the pro-government rallies over recent days have been middle-aged or older men.
US officials and analysts believed conservative opponents of president Hassan Rouhani, a moderate within Iran’s clerically overseen government, started the demonstrations on December 28 in Iran’s second largest city, Mashhad, but quickly lost control of them.