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Eight Iran Sufis on hunger strike, claim torture — Amnesty

By AFP - Apr 01,2018 - Last updated at Apr 01,2018

NICOSIA, Cyprus — Eight members of Iran’s Gonabadi Sufi minority are on hunger strike, Amnesty International said on Friday, protesting alleged torture in prison after protests in which security forces members were killed.

“One of the men, Abbas Dehghan, has allegedly been threatened with his wife being raped in front of him if he does not ‘confess’,” the rights group said in a statement. 

Amnesty said the eight hunger strikers require medical care for injuries sustained during their arrest in the violent clashes with security forces on 19 February.

The violence erupted during a demonstration by members of the Gonabadi order, known as dervishes, who were protesting the arrest of members of the sect, as well as rumours that their leader would soon be arrested.

One member of the sect has been sentenced to death for driving a bus into a group of police officers during the protests, killing three.

Two members of the Basij, a militia tasked with a number of policing duties, were also killed in the clashes.

The men on hunger strike are being held in Shapour detention centre in Tehran, Amnesty said, describing it as “notorious for extracting ‘confessions’ through torture”.

“Commonly reported methods of torture include kicking and punching; beatings with plastic pipes, cables or whips; prolonged binding; and various forms of suspension including one known as the ‘chicken kebab’, in which the person is suspended from a pole with their arms bent back and tied to their ankles and then flogged,” the group said. 

More than 300 people were arrested in the February clashes.

Amnesty said some families were not informed of their whereabouts and the authorities have been denied access to lawyers until their interrogations are complete.

At least 20 members of the sect have been charged so far, Amnesty International said, with more charges expected. 

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