Editor’s Note: Presidential contender Mehdi Karroubi, who lost to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the June 12 poll, has made numerous allegations of rape, torture and other human rights violations being committed against defendants in Iranian prisons. The defendants are charged with participating in the demonstrations since June. Karroubi wrote the letter below on September 10 to the newly-appointed chief of the judiciary, Sadeq Larijani.

Source: Khordad88, a reformist blog and news website

To Mr. Larijani,

The honorable head of the judiciary,

Greetings,

(…) You have just recently accepted responsibility [of the judiciary] and are chief justice. And now I will share with you the details of my meetings with your representatives and some of the marginal events that took place which led to my personal office and party being sealed. I do this as a religious and patriotic obligation. (…)

Mr. Larijani,

(…) To inform you and the people, I must tell you that we had two meetings with the honorable (Intelligence Minister) Mohseni Ejeie, and these meetings went well and a glimpse of the evidence [we had] from the regrettable, unforgivable incidents that had occurred were presented. In the first meeting, information about three people was given, along with a CD and the necessary documents which were all evidence of torture and rape that had been inflicted on boys and girls in identified and unidentified detention centers. In addition to these three documents, we personally hinted at what had happened to two girls, Taraneh Mousavi (the real one) and Saeedeh Pouraghayi. The second meeting was this Monday and (…) I put forth one of my other documents on one condition: that nothing would happen to this individual or the family just because of [our] demand for justice.

(…) I gave my evidence and I warned that the neglect of the previous prosecutor must not be repeated, we must not have wrongdoers enter this scenario, people who are not after justice, but would rather threaten and dishonor the person [evidence] that I had put forth. (…)

I should also add that in these meetings that took place to look into the allegations of torture and improper behavior in prisons and the events after the election, they repeatedly asked me: do you think it is beneficial to go on collecting information about rape and torture and the killing of people, is it not possible that these documents will get in the hands of the wrong person? And I replied that I keep these documents in a safe place, and if we reach a conclusion I will destroy them. And I reaffirmed that documents which reveal rape and torture are nothing to be proud of for me to want to keep, or to put on a wall. These are documents that will help us achieve justice and get back the rights of the oppressed and once that is achieved, they will be destroyed and the vile smell and hideous face of evil will be destroyed with them.(…)

In any case, these two meetings were over, and in the end, I pointed to another new painful case I had just heard and I added that I am in the process of following up this new case and I will present my documents once I am done.

Mr. Larijani,

I gave this suggestion and left, and our meeting with the committee came to a good end. But the day after, the tides turned. On the orders of Tehran’s prosecutor, a group attacked my office. They searched the office and in doing so, they did not limit themselves to the office documents, but searched and confiscated my personal letters and writings, my bills and private papers. In the end, they sealed my office, and even confiscated the charity supplies I gather there every year. They arrested Mr. Davari, the editor of the Etemad Melli website. They had not finished shutting down my office when they did the same to the office of the Etemad Melli party, of which I am the executive. They unlawfully confiscated the documents of a party that is registered under the laws of the Islamic Republic and finally sealed the office of the party as well. These actions did not suffice and they arrested Dr. Alireza Beheshti, the son of the late Ayatollah Beheshti and Mr. Morteza Alviri, that devoted revolutionary who was once a member of parliament and the mayor of Tehran, and the ambassador of the Islamic Republic in European countries.

The Office of the Publication of Ayatollah Beheshti’s Books, one of the founders of the Islamic Republic, was also sealed. I am left wondering: did these events occur on Tuesday as a result of my meeting on Monday? I am left baffled not by what they have done to Karroubi, but that they think that Karroubi, the son of Ahmad, is going to leave the field and choose to remain silent? Now I know why some friends and advisers insisted that I give all the evidence for rape and torture as it had been retold to me by the victims, on a CD and to keep a copy in a safe place. Because the machine of terror is still at work and who knows, some of the witnesses may now take back their claims out of fear.

Because the Islamic Republic has reached a place where the house of Mehdi Karroubi too is no longer a safe place. Because any horrible, indecent act is possible in the Islamic Republic and nothing is far from the imagination.

Mr. Larijani,

You formed a committee to investigate the regretful events and the wrongdoing that occurred after the election and Mr. Khalafi, who was your representative, claimed on your part that you have said that these claims must all be thoroughly investigated. But my question is this: after such terror, fear and threats, is it even possible to attend to the terror and atrocity that occurred after the election? You are left to answer this question but know that Mehdi Karroubi still insists on reclaiming the rights of the oppressed. Such old, overused tactics may work to silence some, but they will not work on Mehdi Karroubi and he will forcefully take a stand, and he will not allow a group of nouveau riche to sell off a country and the legacy of an Imam (Khomeni) which was attained after a democratic revolution and the blood of many martyrs.

With hopes of your success in the judiciary,

Mehdi Karroubi