19 November 2009 / REUTERS, TEHRAN
A doctor who died at the Kahrizak detention center, closed after the deaths there of several protesters against June’s disputed election, committed suicide, state media said on Wednesday.
Iran’s parliament has begun an investigation into the death last week of Ramin Pourandarjani, who was serving his military service as a doctor at the facility. “The death of Ramin Pourandarjani was the result of suicide,” the official news agency quoted police chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam as saying. “The doctor had complaints of being threatened with a five-year jail term and had lost his spirit,” he said, referring to an apparent will Pourandarjani had written. “He committed suicide after he was summoned to the court.” Kahrizak was closed in July on orders of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after at least three people, arrested during the post-election unrest, died in custody there. Thousands of people were arrested in the protests after the June presidential election which led to the victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
