UN torture expert says there are credible accounts that Iran opposition tortured in prison

September 18th, 2009 TEHRAN - The father of an Iranian student, who died in jail after being arrested for protesting against President Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election, has claimed that his son was beaten, got his bones broken and toenails pulled out while in prison. Amir Javadifar, 24, was so badly beaten that he had to treated in hospital before being taken to the notorious Evin prison, Times Online reports.

September 11th, 2009 UK police to investigate spy over torture claimLONDON — Britain's foreign intelligence agency MI6 reported one of its officers to authorities amid new concerns over the country's possible complicity in torture, prompting police to launch an investigation Friday, officials said. MI6 referred an incident to the government's chief legal adviser, Patricia Scotland, who ruled police should carry out an inquiry, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said.

September 11th, 2009 UK police probe spy agency MI6 on torture claimLONDON — British police are investigating an allegation that the country's MI6 overseas spy agency was complicit in torture, the second inquiry launched in recent months examining the conduct of the country's spies. Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who oversees MI6, said the agency had referred a case to the government's chief legal adviser Patricia Scotland, who ruled that police should carry out an inquiry.

August 24th, 2009 Iran reformist unveils case of raped detaineeTEHRAN, Iran — An Iranian opposition leader on Monday released what he said was an account by a prisoner raped by his jailers in a challenge to the country's leadership which has sought to silence claims of torture and abuses in the postelection crackdown. The allegations of torture and even rapes against imprisoned opposition protesters have become a source of embarrassment to the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran's clerical leadership as they try to put behind them the turmoil of the disputed June presidential election.

August 14th, 2009 Iran reformist leader presses torture allegationsTEHRAN, Iran — A hard-line cleric said Friday that an Iranian opposition leader should be prosecuted for claiming that detained protesters were raped by their jailers in the country's postelection crackdown. Despite the uproar, the opposition leader, Mahdi Karroubi, pushed ahead with criticism, saying some detainees were tortured to death in the crackdown and said he had reports of Abu Ghraib-like abuses.

August 14th, 2009 Iran reformist leader says he has torture accountsTEHRAN, Iran — An Iranian opposition leader says he received reports of protesters detained after the country's disputed presidential election being tortured to death in jail. Mahdi Karroubi says he got testimonies from prisoners who say they were abused while in detention and from those who say they saw others being brutally tortured, some to death.

August 11th, 2009 LONDON - The British Government has said that an inquiry into whether Britain's intelligence services have been involved indirectly in the torture of terrorist suspects by foreign agencies is not necessary. The decision follows after the head of MI6, Sir John Scarlett, publicly insisted that none of his intelligence officers could be accused of complicit involvement in torture.

August 9th, 2009 Nobel laureate urges Iran to release detaineesSEOUL, South Korea —Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi on Sunday urged Iran's government to release detained activists and citizens accused of involvement in the country's postelection unrest, saying the president must "listen to the people's voice." Hundreds of people in Iran have been detained following massive demonstrations protesting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's June 12 re-election. On Sunday, Iran's police chief acknowledged that some of the detained protesters were abused in custody, but said the death of some prisoners was caused by illness not torture.

July 20th, 2009 LONDON - Iran has released the last British Embassy official, who was held three weeks ago on the alleged charges of being behind last month's post-election violence in the country. Hossein Rassam, an Iranian national, worked at the Embassy as an expert on Iranian politics.

July 14th, 2009 Interrogator at Khmer Rouge prison denies torture PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A senior interrogator at the most notorious Khmer Rouge prison denied Tuesday that he tortured victims, despite grisly earlier testimony from his former boss that torture was common there. Mam Nai, 76, told the U.N.-backed genocide tribunal that his main duty was to interrogate low-ranking Khmer Rouge soldiers who allegedly opposed the regime, as well as Vietnamese prisoners of war.

July 9th, 2009 French academic in Iran prison healthy but worriedPARIS — France's foreign minister says a French academic held in an Iranian prison is in good health but worried. Bernard Kouchner says the French ambassador to Iran met with the detained woman, Clotilde Reiss, in Iran's Evin prison and brought her books, clothes and a message from her family.

July 7th, 2009 LONDON - The British Security Service, MI5 has been accused of attempting to bribe a man who was jailed on terrorism charges, in a bid to persuade him to withdraw his custodial torture complaints. Rangzieb Ahmed had three of his fingernails ripped out after MI5 and Greater Manchester police (GMP) drew up a list of questions for officers from a notorious Pakistani intelligence agency.

May 11th, 2009 Lawyer: US reporter leaves jail in IranTEHRAN, Iran — A lawyer for a U.S. journalist jailed in Iran says she has been freed from prison after an appeals court suspended her eight-year jail sentence.

April 22nd, 2009 Khmer Rouge defendant: Pol Pot feigned ignorancePHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The late Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot was lying when he said he was unaware that his 1970s communist regime operated a torture center, the man accused of running it testified Wednesday. Kaing Guek Eav told Cambodia's U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal, which is trying him for crimes against humanity, war crimes, murder and torture, that he knew of no document authorizing the notorious prison, but that "whatever Pol Pot decided everybody had to implement." An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died under the 1975-79 communist Khmer Rouge regime from forced labor, starvation, medical neglect and executions.

April 20th, 2009 Ex-Khmer Rouge says he is selling Pol Pot's shoesPHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A former member of the Khmer Rouge member said Monday that he is auctioning off a pair of shoes he claims belonged to the group's late leader Pol Pot to fund a museum about the brutal regime. Nhem En, the chief photographer at the group's notorious torture center who photographed prisoners before and after they were tortured, is also selling his cameras.