BEIRUT: An Iranian doctor who treated victims of torture at Tehran’s most feared prison has died, amid conflicting reports of a heart attack, a car accident or suicide — raising opposition accusations that the 26-year-old was killed.
Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani was pressured to change the death certificate of one of the most well known victims and later spoke to a Parliament commission investigating abuse of political detainees, opposition websites reported.
Much of the abuse took place at a facility known as Kahrizak on Tehran’s outskirts, where Pourandarjani — a general practitioner — was the only doctor, serving there once a week as part of his mandatory military service.
Hundreds of protesters and opposition activists were arrested in a crackdown that suppressed protests following the disputed June 12 presidential election.
Pourandarjani’s death on Nov. 10 was first reported by the opposition websites and later confirmed by Iranian authorities.
Hanif Mazroui, a reporter for the opposition news website Roozonline, said he was contacted by a doctor earlier this week who told him Pourandarjani had committed suicide. The doctor, a colleague of Pourandarjani, later called Mazroui back and said the cause of death was “suspicious, and (authorities) are not making it public,” Mazroui said.
At first, authorities announced that Pourandarjani had a heart attack in his sleep. Then they claimed he died of poisoning. Late Monday, the office of Tehran’s general prosecutor Abbas Dowlatabadi said “preliminary autopsy revealed he did not die of poisoning.”
The doctor’s father, Reza-Qoli Pourandarjani, said he didn’t believe any of the causes given so far by the government in his son’s death. But he didn’t go as far as accusing authorities of killing his son.
“Just the night before his death, my child talked to me on the phone, it was around 8 or 9 p.m. He sounded great, very dignified, displaying no sign of someone about to commit suicide,” the senior Pourandarjani said in a telephone interview from his home in Tabriz in northwestern Iran. The next day, the elder Pourandarjani received a call from the commander of Tehran’s security forces informing him that his son was in a car accident with a broken leg and needed his consent to have surgery. When he traveled to Tehran, “we found out that that wasn’t the case,” the father said.
The body was handed over to the family, and was buried in Tabriz on Sunday.
Source: Arab News
Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani was pressured to change the death certificate of one of the most well known victims and later spoke to a Parliament commission investigating abuse of political detainees, opposition websites reported.
Much of the abuse took place at a facility known as Kahrizak on Tehran’s outskirts, where Pourandarjani — a general practitioner — was the only doctor, serving there once a week as part of his mandatory military service.
Hundreds of protesters and opposition activists were arrested in a crackdown that suppressed protests following the disputed June 12 presidential election.
Pourandarjani’s death on Nov. 10 was first reported by the opposition websites and later confirmed by Iranian authorities.
Hanif Mazroui, a reporter for the opposition news website Roozonline, said he was contacted by a doctor earlier this week who told him Pourandarjani had committed suicide. The doctor, a colleague of Pourandarjani, later called Mazroui back and said the cause of death was “suspicious, and (authorities) are not making it public,” Mazroui said.
At first, authorities announced that Pourandarjani had a heart attack in his sleep. Then they claimed he died of poisoning. Late Monday, the office of Tehran’s general prosecutor Abbas Dowlatabadi said “preliminary autopsy revealed he did not die of poisoning.”
The doctor’s father, Reza-Qoli Pourandarjani, said he didn’t believe any of the causes given so far by the government in his son’s death. But he didn’t go as far as accusing authorities of killing his son.
“Just the night before his death, my child talked to me on the phone, it was around 8 or 9 p.m. He sounded great, very dignified, displaying no sign of someone about to commit suicide,” the senior Pourandarjani said in a telephone interview from his home in Tabriz in northwestern Iran. The next day, the elder Pourandarjani received a call from the commander of Tehran’s security forces informing him that his son was in a car accident with a broken leg and needed his consent to have surgery. When he traveled to Tehran, “we found out that that wasn’t the case,” the father said.
The body was handed over to the family, and was buried in Tabriz on Sunday.
Source: Arab News
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