Torture trial begins for Iran security chief
TEHRAN, May 3 (AFP) - The closed-door trial of the Iranian chief of
security police charged with torturing officials from the Tehran municipality
opened at a military court here Monday.
The official IRNA news agency said Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza
Naqdi has denied all charges, including ordering the torture of prisoners
to force confessions, illegal detention, slander and the manipulation of
evidence.
Thirty-one senior officials from the Tehran municipality filed complaints
against Naqdi in connection with a corruption investigation last year that
led to the ouster of then Tehran mayor Gholamhossein Karbaschi.
Karbaschi, a close ally of reformist President Mohammad Khatami, was
forced out of office last year and is due in Tehran's Evin prison this
week to begin serving a two-year jail term for corruption.
His trial was widely seen among reformers and moderates as a politically
motivated attack by the regime's conservatives and hardliners, who dominate
Iran's police and judiciary.
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