Iran: Stop ‘Framing’ Government Critics: Via Human Rights Watch.

(New York) - Iranian authorities are coercing detained supporters of reform presidential candidates to implicate leading reformists in illegal acts, Human Rights Watch said today. Intelligence forces have also intensified pressure on the families of detainees to be silent about their cases.

Family members and recently released detainees have described to Human Rights Watch the coercion that is taking place. On July 15, 2009, Gholamhussein Mohseni Ejeie, Iran's minister of intelligence, told reporters that, "The confessions obtained from those arrested could be made public, should the Judiciary decide to air their remarks."

"It's appalling that the minister of intelligence is talking about publicizing confessions made by people held for weeks without access to lawyers," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The minister's statement underscores our fears that these so-called confessions are obtained under duress."
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Iran: Detainees Describe Beatings, Pressure to Confess: Via Human Rights Watch .

(New York) - The Iranian authorities are using prolonged harsh interrogations, beatings, sleep deprivation, and threats of torture to extract false confessions from detainees arrested since the disputed June 12 presidential election, Human Rights Watch said today. The confessions appear designed to support unsubstantiated allegations by senior government officials that Iran's post-election protests, in which at least 20 people were killed, were supported by foreign powers and aimed at overthrowing the government.

"The Iranian government is desperate to justify its vicious attacks on peaceful protesters," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "What better excuse does it need than confessions of foreign plots, beaten out of detainees?"

Human Rights Watch has collected accounts from detainees after their release illustrating how the authorities are mistreating and threatening prisoners in a deliberate effort to obtain false confessions.
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