News | Report: Coroner Asserts Beheshti 'Died from Natural Causes'
20 Nov 2012 00:28Comments
Press Roundup provides a selected summary of news from the Farsi and Arabic press and excerpts where the source is in English. Tehran Bureau has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. Any views expressed are the authors' own. Please refer to the Media Guide to help put the stories in perspective. You can follow breaking news stories on our Twitter feed.
[ update ] Ahmad Shojai, the Islamic Republic of Iran's chief state coroner, announced that his office's preliminary finding was that blogger Sattar Beheshti "died from natural causes" while incarcerated in Evin Prison. Amsterdam-based Radio Zamaneh reports that the announcement was carried by Iran's semiofficial Mehr News Agency on Monday.
According to Shojai's statement, "There are no signs of asphyxiation or poisoning in Sattar Beheshti's remains." The coroner suggested that the online activist, who he claimed was using heart medication, may have succumbed to the "stress" of his arrest on October 30, four days before his death. Beheshti's family members have stated that he was not suffering from any heart or other health problems and was taking no medication at the time of his arrest.
Reports from sources at both Evin Prison and the Kharizak coroner's facility, where his corpse was handed over to relatives, indicate that Beheshti suffered severe beatings and other forms of torture during his brief incarceration. According to Monday's report, "Shojai confirmed that the body of the deceased bore signs of beatings but he insisted that they were not the cause of the victim's death." He said that his office would release its final report on the case on Tuesday.
United Nations officials, including UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran Ahmed Shaheed, have called for a full government investigation of the circumstances surrounding Beheshti's death. Iranian judiciary chief Sadegh Larijani and Deputy Majles Speaker Mohammad Hasan Abutorabifard have each declared that such an inquiry will be undertaken.
Copyright © 2012 Tehran Bureau
via RSS
In order to foster a civil and literate discussion that respects all participants, FRONTLINE has the following guidelines for commentary. By submitting comments here, you are consenting to these rules:
Readers' comments that include profanity, obscenity, personal attacks, harassment, or are defamatory, sexist, racist, violate a third party's right to privacy, or are otherwise inappropriate, will be removed. Entries that are unsigned or are "signed" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. We reserve the right to not post comments that are more than 400 words. We will take steps to block users who repeatedly violate our commenting rules, terms of use, or privacy policies. You are fully responsible for your comments.