The Ministry of Intelligence contacted the family of a Kurdish prisoner on Thursday, September 9, informing them of the death of their son in prison.
The Kurdish prisoner has been identified by Kurdish websites as 31-year-old Yasser Mangouri, who worked as a lathe operator. Yasser was married and father to three children.
The authorities have not yet provided the family with information on the manner or date of his death.
Security agencies have so far refused to return the body of the prisoner to his family.
Yasser Mangouri’s family held a memorial ceremoney for him today, despite the fact that his body has not yet been handed over to them.
Mr. Mangouri was arrested by security forces on July 17.
Yasser was detained on July 17 on charges based on “cooperation with dissident parties”. His family filed complaints against the Piranshahr prosecutor.
Security officials told Yasser Mangouri’s family that he had been killed in a clash with security forces two months ago.
But according to an informed source close to the family, Yasser received a phone call on July 17, asking him to be at the city cemetery.
“He might have been killed that same night. His family followed continuously about his whereabouts, but no one answered them. Every time they were told that they would be called. Last Thursday his family received a call that Yasser had died,” the source said.
He was not the first to die under suspicious circumstances in prison in the past years.
On July 16, an Iranian Kurd identified as 38-year-old Rahman Ahmadian was killed under torture in Urmia’s Intelligence Office Detention Center. Rahman and other citizens including his neighbor were detained by Intelligence agents on July 13.
On June 28, an Iranian Arab identified as Kazem Hazbavi was killed under torture by police in Khorramshahr, southwestern Iran. Kazem was married and father to three boys and one girl. The report said police forces chased and ran over Kazem with a car, then took him to the police station. Locals reported he was injured in the car chase, then tortured at the station where he lost his life.
On June 16, a Baluch prisoner was killed under torture in a detention center in Suran, southeastern Iran. The man was identified as Masoud Kahanky-Gongi.
At least four prisoners were killed because of torture and ill-treatment in Iranian prisons in 2020.
Iran Human Rights Monitor urges the United Nations Secretary-General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and relevant UN rapporteurs as well as international human rights organizations to take immediate action to save the lives of political prisoners in Iran and to establish an international commission of inquiry to visit Iranian prisons and meet with prisoners, particularly the political prisoners.
