Iran protestor dies in police detention - report

Iran Focus:

An Iranian man arrested for taking part in an anti-government demonstration in Tehran on Tuesday died as he was trying to escape from his torturers at a police station, a government source in the Iranian capital told Iran Focus.

Ehsan Karavi was arrested during a protest by thousands of people in support of political prisoners outside Tehran University on Tuesday. Dozens of protesters, who called for the release of jailed journalist Akbar Ganji were arrested by the State Security Forces and undercover agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security. READ MORE

Karavi was taken to Abbass-Abad police station, where police interrogators put a sack around his head, beat him with truncheons and administered electric shocks to him, according to the source, who requested anonymity.

Karavi used a pause in the interrogation and jumped from the second floor to escape, but he suffered from internal bleeding when he landed and died soon afterwards.

A police spokesman in Tehran, contacted by Iran Focus, said he was unaware of such an incident.

The death comes days after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed a hard-line Revolutionary Guards commander as the country’s new police chief.

On Saturday, Brigadier General Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam told Iran’s policemen that they had to “deal decisively with those who seek to undermine the Islamic Republic’s security”, even if it meant “using bullets”.

Iranian journalists reported sighting Ahmadi Moghaddam last Tuesday outside Tehran University as he personally led the security forces’ harsh crackdown on demonstrators.