A Dervish Gonabadi community member, Mohammad Raji, who was recently arrested, in Tehran’s 7th Golestan St., was tortured to death during interrogation.
Mohammad Raji’s daughter Tayyebeh reported on Sunday, March 4, that the Iranian authorities had told her that her father had fallen into a coma after being hit, but expressed doubts about the truthfulness of that statement.
She said that he was seriously injured and in a critical condition when his family saw him in detention. After that, the family never saw him again.
Tayyebeh said: “If my father had really gone into a coma, we were entitled to immediately be informed and allowed to visit him; that’s the least right a citizen expects to be respected by the authorities.”
The body of Raji, an Iran-Iraq war veteran who was suffering from conditions that arose from an Iraqi chemical attack, has not even been released to his family yet, which raises more suspicions.
Mohammad Raji was married and had five children.
Currently, one of his sons, Mohammad Ali Raji, who was arrested at the same street, is held at the Great Tehran Penitentiary (Fashafoyeh Prison).
A gathering on February 19, 2018, by Dervish Gonabadi protesters turned violent after police intervention. The Dervishes were protesting the detention of Nematollahi Riahi and the lack of accountability by agents about where he was detained and charges made against him. Nematollahi Riahi had gone to the Namju Police Station to follow up the condition of other detained Dervishes but was arrested by police. The daughter of the elderly man said that he had severe heart issues and that a battery had been placed in his heart.
The State Security Force attacked the protesters, firing bird shots and tear gas and using batons. At least three Dervish Gonabadi protesters were killed and more than 600 were arrested. 70 women arrested during the Dervish Gonabadi protests were transferred to Qarchak Prison, SE of the capital.
They are held in the quarantine section of ward 3 where all communications with the outside world is cut off. Many protesters were severely injured by anti-riot units using pellet guns. Reports indicate many injured protesters have been arrested in hospitals by intelligence agents.
