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Prison in Tehran (symbolic image)

Photo: Wane News Agency / REUTERS

Following the death of a political prisoner in a prison in Iran, activists have called for an international investigation into the circumstances of his death. The 31-year-old Javad Ruhi was "cruelly tortured" and then "died under suspicious circumstances" on August 31, the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday.

There is "no reason to believe that the Iranian authorities will conduct a transparent investigation," said HRW Iran expert Tara Sepehri Far. Therefore, an "international investigation" is necessary.

Citing an informed source, the organization stated that Ruhi had been exposed to freezing temperatures for 48 hours. In addition, ice cubes were placed on his testicles and other parts of his body. "The attackers also beat him with batons and whipped his body, including the soles of his feet, while he was handcuffed to a stake," HRW said.

For its part, the Iranian judiciary reported on its website Misan Online that Ruhi died on Thursday morning "after suffering a seizure in prison in Novshahr." The director of the Norway-based organization Iran Human Rights (IHR), Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, then called on the UN to investigate Ruhi's death as an "extrajudicial killing in prison".

Trial resumed after death penalty

In view of Ruhi's death, the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) condemned Tehran's repressive policy "in the strongest possible terms". Torture and "suspicious deaths in the prisons of the Islamic Republic" are "systematic," the ISHR explained. She also appealed to the UN commission of inquiry to investigate Ruhi's death.

Ruhi was arrested in September last year in the city of Nowshahr in the northern province of Masandaran during the nationwide protests following the death of the young Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini. Two months later, according to Misan Online, he was sentenced to death for "corruption on earth," "rioting," and "desecration of the Koran by burning," among other charges. However, the verdict was later overturned and a retrial was ordered.

Jina Mahsa Amini was arrested in September in the capital Tehran by the morality police for allegedly not wearing her headscarf properly. The 22-year-old died after her arrest.

Her death sparked months of protests across the country, in the course of which, according to the UN, thousands of people were arrested and, according to activists, hundreds of people were shot dead by the security forces. After their violent suppression, the protests have now largely subsided, despite some sporadic outbreaks.

ktz/AFP