Pursuit and Interrogation Due to the Publication of Torture News on Social Media

Following reports of a young man named Nader Sharifi falling into a coma during 'interrogation at a police detention center' in Abadan and his subsequent death, the police chief of the city denied the young man's death was due to torture and announced the pursuit and interrogation of those who published this news on social media. The Iran newspaper reported on Thursday, June 17, that a young man named Nader, who 'had fallen into a coma during interrogation' at the Abadan police detention center, died in the hospital. Several news websites have identified this young man as Nader Sharifi. However, Mohsen Taghizadeh, the police chief of Abadan County, denied reports regarding the young man's death due to torture, stating that 'there is no evidence' of torture and 'no signs of beating on Nader's body.' He added, 'The prosecutor of Abadan and I are directly following up on the matter, and if our officers are at fault, we will certainly deal with them.' Mr. Taghizadeh did not mention the reason for the young man's detention or the charges against him. He also reported that several individuals who had published news about the young man's torture on social media were being pursued by the cyber police for 'disturbing public opinion, tarnishing the police's image, and spreading falsehoods' and would be dealt with. According to this report, 'several of these individuals' were interrogated by the cyber police on Wednesday morning. In recent years, there have also been reports of the deaths of several detainees during interrogation. For instance, reports indicate that Sattar Beheshti, a blogger, died in 2012 due to incidents that occurred during interrogation at the cyber police detention center. Following that, a police officer was sentenced to three years in prison for involuntary manslaughter. The Kaleme website, close to Mir Hossein Mousavi, reported in June that Reza Heydarpoor, a doctor who examined Sattar Beheshti's body in Evin prison and noted signs of beating in his report, was sentenced to six months in prison. According to this report, Bahram Moradi, a physiotherapist at Evin prison, was also sentenced to six months in prison. In recent years, many reports have also emerged regarding the poor health and nutrition conditions in Iranian prisons and the treatment of prisoners by prison guards. For instance, the Law newspaper published a report titled '24 Hours of Damnation' about a prisoner in the 'Greater Tehran Penitentiary' on Saturday, July 13. In the report, this prisoner stated that upon entering the prison, soldiers insulted him and tore his coat and shoes, claiming they might contain 'drugs' and threw them away. The report stated that this prison has 'only two hours' of water in 24 hours, which is 'very low quality and not suitable for drinking.' Following the publication of this report, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the public and revolutionary prosecutor of Tehran, announced on Tuesday, June 25, that following a complaint from the prison organization, the managing editor of the Law newspaper was 'subject to judicial pursuit.'