Attorney General on Ismail Bakhti's 'Torture': There Was No Specific Assault

After days of controversy surrounding Ismail Bakhti's statements, a representative of the Haft Tappeh sugarcane workers, regarding his alleged torture during detention, the Attorney General of Iran claimed that he was 'not tortured' and that he pursued this matter 'with political motives and specific intentions.' Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, on Tuesday, January 14, referred to the dispatch of a judicial investigation team to Ahvaz to examine the issue, stating that this team 'talked for two full days with a group of people who had complete information or expertise on this matter' and provided 'thankfully a solid, comprehensive, and good report.' He then concluded from this report that the news of Ismail Bakhti's torture by intelligence forces 'was fundamentally false and that there was no specific assault or torture involved.' According to the Attorney General of Iran, 'the individual who claimed to have been tortured pursued this matter with political motives and specific intentions.' Ismail Bakhti was arrested in late November after several weeks of protests by Haft Tappeh workers over unpaid wages, along with 17 other workers and civil activist Sepideh Ghalean. While some detainees were released within a week, Bakhti's detention lasted 25 days, and Ghalean was released a few days after him. A few days after his release, Bakhti reported on his Instagram that during his detention, he was beaten and 'tortured' to the extent that 'for 72 hours in my cell, I could not move, and I was beaten so badly that even the pain of sleeping was unbearable for me.' His statements received widespread attention on social media, prompting reactions from the Iranian judiciary, the government of Hassan Rouhani, and the parliament, which announced the formation of committees to investigate these claims. However, Bakhti stated that the groups formed by the government, parliament, and judiciary regarding his torture did not engage with him or listen to his words. While Iranian Ministry of Intelligence officials acknowledged in a meeting of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Parliament that there were 'some altercations' between security forces and Bakhti during his arrest and transfer to detention, the Attorney General denied even this altercation in his statements on Tuesday. Montazeri stated that 'there was no torture or specific assault.' He emphasized that 'the issue of torture is entirely dismissed' and announced that 'apparently some institutions and legal entities have also filed complaints against this individual who made such accusations against intelligence, security, and judicial officials, and this matter will certainly be investigated thoroughly.' Earlier, Mahmoud Vaezi, the head of the Iranian President's office, announced that 'this right is to be considered for the Ministry of Intelligence and the system to file a complaint against Ismail Bakhti.' Vaezi stated that it cannot be allowed for 'some to make claims and undermine the system.' Since the February 1979 Revolution, political activists have repeatedly reported organized and prolonged torture during their detentions, but these complaints have not led to any results. In this context, several labor and professional activists have recently referred to their torture in the prisons of the Islamic Republic of Iran.