"We will make you regret everything" – New evidence of torture in Iran
11 March 2013
The most detailed forensic evidence of torture yet to have emerged from Iran’s recent history has been published today in Freedom from Torture’s new research report: ‘”We will make you regret everything” Torture in Iran since the 2009 elections’.
The report, published on the same day that the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran presents to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, is a systematic study of 50 Iranian torture cases, from 2009-2011, documented by clinicians from Freedom from Torture’s Medico Legal Reports Service.
Full Report PDF
Summary PDF
Persian Summary PDF
The cases all involve torture perpetrated in the lead up to and in the weeks, months and years following Iran’s presidential elections held on 12 June 2009. Together they provide an alarming insight into the brutal methods used by the Iranian authorities to terrorise those individuals – and their family members – engaged in grassroots organising prior to the elections and in the protests relating to the disputed outcome and the human rights abuses that followed.
‘Sanaz’ was detained by the authorities after attending a demonstration with her husband in the aftermath of the disputed election results in 2009. Arrested at home by the security services she was detained for about a week, during which time she was beaten, kicked and slapped. She was twice raped in the interrogation room whilst being accused of being ‘a spy and a prostitute’.
‘Bahar’ was detained on numerous occasions in the run up to and in the years following the elections and was similarly subjected to severe beatings and insults, sexual abuse and rape. During interrogation, under the pressure of torture, she was forced to sign a ‘confession’ stating she had been involved in anti-regime activities.
Keith Best, Freedom from Torture CEO, said:
Freedom from Torture’s purpose in publishing this clinical evidence is not only to expose the role of torture in the crackdown that marred Iran’s 2009 elections, but also to warn the world that vigilance and pressure are necessary to prevent a repeat when Iranians return to the polls to elect a new president in June.”
The report’s key findings include:
- Torture was a key tool of repression used by the Iranian authorities as part of their efforts to crush dissent in the months leading up to and for an extended period following the presidential elections in June 2009;
- A wide range of physical, psychological and environmental torture methods were practised in a highly systematic way by torturers in Iran during this period;
- Torture was often used to obtain information about individuals and networks involved in organising activity deemed to be ‘anti-regime’ and to force people to sign what they understood to be ‘confessions';
- The physical and psychological harm of torture endures for the survivors and a high proportion of the cases in this sample had self-harmed or made suicide attempts in the period following their torture.
