Kianoosh Sanjari, 26, knows from painful experience what they are going through.
Now a human rights activist and blogger in Washington DC, in 2005 he was on the streets of his native Tehran protesting after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s first election victory. He was picked up by security forces, and what followed was an ordeal of fear and pain – which Mr Sanjari knows many of his friends are now suffering.
“The Basij and riot police had made a human tunnel to the bus and everyone who had been arrested was forced to walk down it. All the way they were kicked and beaten with batons. I was hit so hard I passed out. My hands were tied behind my back with plastic handcuffs on so tight it really hurt.
“There were about 50 of us on the bus and some must have been badly injured because there was blood sloshing about on the floor. As soon as we were on Chamran highway, we knew we were going to Evin.
“Once we reached the prison gates, they pulled out a couple of people – accused of being protest ringleaders – and pulled them off the bus to beat them up. They were behind the entrance gate, but we could hear them screaming in pain.
