15:48GMT—11:48AM/EST
Washington, 13 August (WashingtonTV)—Three United Nations human rights experts on Thursday voiced “serious concern” over accusations of torture and rough interrogation tactics of those being tried in Iran on charges related to the huge protests following June’s presidential election.
The experts said that they were continuing to receive reports of people dying in custody, and of their families being given false or contradictory information regarding the cause of death.
“No judicial system can consider as valid a confession obtained as a result of harsh interrogations or under torture,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak.
El Hadji Malick Sow, vice-chair of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, also called on Iran’s Revolution Court to reject the confessions, a statement said.
“These confessions for alleged crimes such as threats against national security and treason must not, under any circumstances, be admitted as evidence” by the court, he said.
Both experts, together with Margaret Sekaggya, special rapporteur on human rights defenders, noted that foreign media had been banned from covering the hearings and that it was unclear whether the defendants had adequate legal counsel.
Many detainees have been held without being charged and have been deprived of legal assista… >>>
