Iran Tries to Suppress Rape Allegations

It is very hard to believe that the accusations that detained protesters were in some cases raped and sodomized are untrue. These violent acts were no doubt one by some of the same thugs that beat protesters to death and/or shot them in cold blood. What better way to demean and humiliate detainees that to sexually violate them. And then there's the fact that like all religious based tyrants, the current Islamic leaders lie without a second thought and somehow expect that thinking people will buy their bullshit. My rule of thumb is that the louder people protest that fact based allegations are untrue, the more one knows that they are knowingly lying. One can only hope that the accusations will continue and that pressure will build to force and investigation that will expose the crimes of the ruling dictators. Here are some highlights from the New York Times on the ongoing issue:

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Iran’s clerical leadership on Friday stepped up a campaign to silence opposition claims that protesters had been raped in prison, with prayer leaders in at least three major cities denouncing the accusations and their chief sponsor.

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The accusations of rape — usually a taboo subject in Iran — have multiplied and provoked strong reactions in the days since a reformist cleric and presidential candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, broached the subject last weekend. His allegations added fuel to an already volatile debate about prison abuse in the wake of Iran’s disputed June 12 election.

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Also on Friday, a group of reformist former lawmakers issued an extraordinary statement on opposition Web sites in which they denounced the government’s harsh tactics and appealed to a powerful state body to investigate the qualifications of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Although it was not clear who had endorsed the statement, or even if all of the lawmakers were in the country, it appeared to be the most direct challenge to the supreme leader’s authority yet in the unrest following the election.

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But Mr. Karroubi appeared to be undaunted, and he pressed ahead with more claims of jailhouse sexual abuse in a statement posted on his party’s Web site late Thursday. He said he had received testimony from former prisoners that they had seen other detainees “forced to go naked, crawling on their hands and knees like animals, with prison guards riding on their backs.” Others told of watching as fellow prisoners guilty only of marching and chanting slogans were beaten to death, Mr. Karroubi said.

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The former lawmakers praised Mr. Karroubi for publicizing the rape accusations and angrily dismissed the mass trial of reformists now under way as a Stalinesque show trial. They also echoed opposition complaints about the brutality of the crackdown that followed the protests.

Karroubi Demands Probe into Rape of Detainees

I always find it ironic that those who claim to be the protectors of religious purity - regardless of the faith involved - are generally the ones that inflict the most heinous treatment on those who challenge their authority or espouse a different belief system (e.g., the Catholic Church's Inquisition which tortured and executed "heretics"). Recent events in Iran confirm this pattern as charges of rapes and torture of detained protesters by the thugs of Ahmadinejad and Khamenei have come to light. Now, in an effort to secure redress - and expose Ahmadinejad and Khamenei for their true colors - defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi (pictured above left) has written to Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, head of the Assembly of Experts, demanding an investigation. Here are some highlights from Tehran Bureau:

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Defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi called on the Assembly of Experts to investigate the sexual assault of a number of young men and women arrested in the post-election unrest. In a letter to the head of the Assembly, Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, Karroubi said,” Some of the detainees of the [post-election] unrest claim that the detained girls have been sexually assaulted with such brutality that they have all sustained intense vaginal tearing.”
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“The young men in detention were also sexually assaulted in a manner that some are now suffering from depression and other physical and psychological problems and are incapable of even leaving their homes.”

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Karroubi, the Secretary-General of the National Confidence party said, “The people who informed me about these events hold sensitive positions in the country… these officials told me that the things that happened in the detention centers [are so deplorable] that even if one count is true, it would be a tragedy for the Islamic Republic… and it would whitewash the sins of many dictatorships including that of the deposed shah.”

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“Given the importance of the issue, it is expected that an impartial and transparent committee be appointed by the head of the Assembly of Experts to investigate the issue until results are obtained and so that this will be a lesson for the future and hooligans will no longer dare to cause the Imam [Khomeini], the establishment and the Islamic Republic to lose face.” According to Mehdi Karroubi’s son Hossein, the veteran politician’s son had written the letter 10 days ago and due to the silence of Rafsanjani had been forced to make the letter public.

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I suspect that the rapes and torture and murder of detained protesters happened - and that it all was directed by Khamenei and Ahmadinejad. Nothing is more dangerous and lawless than religion fused with politics.