Tehran Prosecutor Denies Death of Mohammad Raji in Police Custody

Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran prosecutor, denied on Tuesday the death of Mohammad Raji, a member of the Gonabadi dervishes, during interrogation. The Majzuban Noor website, which covers news about the Gonabadi dervishes, had previously reported that Mr. Raji was killed due to injuries sustained during interrogation in police custody. Tayebe Raji, Mohammad Raji's daughter, confirmed in an interview with Radio Farda on March 4 that agents from the 10th department of intelligence in Shapur Street, Tehran, informed her of her father's death after announcing that one of the detainees had gone into a coma 'due to injuries sustained.' Meanwhile, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi stated on Tuesday that one of the 'suspects associated with a specific sect' was killed during the clashes on Pasdaran Street. Mr. Dolatabadi denied that Mohammad Raji was killed 'during the investigations (interrogation).' The Mizan news agency, affiliated with Iran's judiciary, also described the reports about Mohammad Raji's death in police custody as 'entirely false' and 'slander by hostile media.' Mizan also reported that Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei had previously stated that another individual 'other than the officers' had also died. According to Ejei, 'during these riots, one person also passed away; now whether this person is a dervish or not, it is not clear.' While the official website of the judiciary labeled this issue as 'slander by hostile media,' Tayebe Raji confirmed her father's death in police custody. Ms. Raji also told Radio Farda that her father was 'severely beaten' during his arrest on February 19 and was in 'critical condition,' but 'waved his hand' and thereafter had no contact with the family. She added, 'If my father was in a coma, at least his civil rights would have warranted that they inform us to see him.' Tayebe Raji also stated that the police had not informed the family about when they would hand over her father's body. Mohammad Raji was a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and had been chemically injured during the Iran-Iraq war. According to the Majzuban Noor website, after separating from the IRGC in 2004, he had been engaged in farming in the village of Mazraeh Abad in Aligudarz. Tayebe Raji also told Radio Farda that her brother Mohammad Ali Raji, born in 1995, went to Pasdaran Street to care for their father, who was a 'chemical injury victim,' and he was also arrested and is currently in Fashafouyeh prison. Previously, unconfirmed reports had circulated about the deaths of three detained dervishes in the hospital. Additionally, videos and photos of severe beatings of detained dervishes and reports of 'skull fractures, jaw fractures, and several broken teeth' and poor physical conditions of some of them have been published. Judiciary officials have emphasized in recent days the 'swift and expedited punishment' of the detained Gonabadi dervishes involved in the clashes on Pasdaran Street. The Tehran police chief also announced that the driver of the bus, who according to security and judicial officials, ran over three police officers and caused their deaths, would be executed before the end of 2017. The Gonabadi dervishes' gathering on February 19 initially began in front of police station 102 in northern Tehran in protest against the arrest of one of the dervishes named Nematollah Riahi. About two weeks prior, the Gonabadi dervishes had gathered after reports emerged about the establishment of a checkpoint near the house of Noor Ali Tabandeh, their leader, which escalated into violence due to the intervention of security forces. The actions of the Islamic Republic against this group intensified in 2005. In that year, widespread destruction of Gonabadi dervish mosques began in various cities of Iran, and thereafter many dervishes were arrested.