AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA
PRESS RELEASE
Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Amnesty International and Others Urge an Independent Investigation into the Mysterious Death of an Iranian Doctor

(Washington) – Amnesty International, together with Physicians for Human Rights and the International campaign for Human Rights in Iran, today issued an open letter to the Speaker of Iran’s Parliament Ali Larijani and the Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi are urging that an investigation into the death of 26-year-old physician Ramin Pourandarjani be independent and transparent. The letter also urges the Iranian authorities to allow international forensic experts to participate in order to insure the integrity of the investigation into the young doctor's death.

Dr. Pourandarjani performed his required military service at the Kahrizak detention facility. This facility was used to hold those arrested during the post-June 12 presidential election unrest. He was discovered dead on November 10 in an office in the Tehran Police Headquarters.

Persistent reports of widespread torture at the Kahrizak facility led Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to close the facility on July 29," said Elise Auerbach, Amnesty International USA Iran country specialist. "Dr. Pourandarjani attended the detainees who suffered from torture and ill-treatment including Mohsen Rouhalamini, whose death following brutal torture caused an outcry."

Dr. Pourandarjani was interviewed by a special parliamentary committee charged with investigating allegations of abuses. Before his death, he reportedly received threats to prevent him from revealing the abuses he had witnessed at Kahrizak. He had also reportedly been forced to say that one detainee had died of meningitis and not of torture.

Iranian officials put out multiple versions of what occurred to Dr. Pourandarjani. After first telling his father that he had suffered a broken leg, the authorities claimed he had died of a heart attack. Later, the government explained that he had been poisoned. Finally it was reported that the doctor had committed suicide and suggesting that a note about his depression was found near the body.

If the Iranian authorities have nothing to hide, they should welcome the opportunity to dispel the cloud of doubt and suspicion surrounding the death of Dr. Pourandarjani by inviting international experts to participate; Physicians for Human Rights has offered to send a forensic team to assist in the investigation," said Auerbach.

The organizations are advocating the investigation into Dr. Pourandarjani's death fully complies with the United Nations Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions.

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For a copy of the letter:PDF & DOC.

For more information, please go to www.amnestyusa.org

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