News

TEHRAN — Iran put 12 policemen on trial in an army court on Tuesday
over last summer's deaths of at least three anti-government protesters
at notorious Kahrizak jail, state media reported.

The case has
caused major embarrassment to the Islamic republic, which acknowledged,
after months of denial, the deaths as a result of injuries inflicted in
Kahrizak.

The detention centre was shut down in July at the order
of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei following reports of abuse.

The
first "court session was held with the victims' families, other
plaintiffs and their lawyers and the defendants," state news agency IRNA
said.

"The indictment against the 12 defendants was read out," it
said, without identifying the defendants or specifying the charges.

"Trying
some officials should not be interpreted as questioning and ignoring
the hard work of police. There might be offending people anywhere,"
Judge Mohammad Mosaddegh said.

Mosaddegh warned that the details
of court sessions were not to be revealed to the public by those present
as "the publication of some information in the case harms order in
society."

It was not known whether Tehran's feared former
prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi was also among those on trial Tuesday.

In
January, a parliamentary probe found Mor... >>>