Karroubi Urges Investigation Into Claims of Rape of Detained Iranian Protestors

Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Inquiry urged into Iran rape claims

One of the defeated reformist candidates in Iran's disputed presidential election is calling for an investigation into claims that anti-government protesters were raped while in custody.

Mehdi Karroubi said in a letter, made public on Monday, that a number of detainees had claimed that several women and men, arrested amid violent demonstrations, were repeatedly abused by their jailers.

"A number of detainees have said that some female detainees have been raped savagely," Karroubi said in the letter to Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, an influential religious leader and former president.

"Young boys held in detention have also been savagely raped," he said, adding they were suffering from depression and serious physical harm after the alleged attacks.

Karroubi, who came fourth in the June election, appealed to Rafsanjani to bring the matter to the attention of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader.

His claims came after some Iranian officials acknowledged that a number of those detained during a crackdown over the protests had been subjected to mistreatment in prison.

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Everything to Lose

Tehran Bureau writes:

Mousavi, Karroubi, Rafsanjani and others know that if they are to now surrender, their heads will be rolling. So what do you do when you have everything to lose?

This Saturday is a day of great suspense. History is waiting to happen. Regardless of what these veteran politicians and old guard revolutionaries will do, one thing is for certain. Iranians will continue to shout Allah o Akbar in Tehran. The game is not over, not yet.

link: Iran updates – tehranbureau

Revolutionaries Who Know The Job

Reza Aslan forecasts:

What's really fascinating about what's happening right now in 2009 is that it looks a lot like what was happening in 1979. And there's a very simple reason for that. The same people are in charge -- I mean, Mousavi, Rafsanjani, Khatami, Medhi Karroubi, the other reformist candidate -- these were all the original revolutionaries who brought down the Shah to begin with, so they know how to do this right.

And so what you're going to see tomorrow is something that was pulled exactly out of the playbook of 1979, which is that you have these massive mourning rallies, where you mourn the deaths of those who were martyred in the cause of freedom. And these things tend to get a little bit out of control, they often result in even more violence by the security forces and even more deaths, which then requires another mourning rally which is even larger, which then requires more violence from the government, and this just becomes an ongoing snowball that can't be stopped.

That's how the Shah was removed from power, was these mourning ceremonies. And so Mousavi very smartly calling for an official -- not a rally -- but an official day of mourning tomorrow. I think we're going to see crowds that we haven't even begun to see yet, and then follow that, on Friday, which is sort of the Muslim sabbath, the day of prayer, which is a traditionally a day of gathering anyway. This is just beginning, Rachel, this is just the beginning.

link: Iran Updates (VIDEO): Live-Blogging The Uprising