Rape as means of torture in the Iranian prisons

Mehdi Karubi, the defeated presidential candidate has recnetly wtitten a letter to Ayattolah Hashemi Rafsanjani demanding an investigation into the cases of rape of young men and women in detention. Karubi has mentioned that his letter is based on the repots he has received from officials in 'sensetive' positions. It is important to know that cases of violent rape of defensless detainees has been reported by either the victims or those who witnessed the incidents and talked about them after release. Mehdi Karubi's letter has emphasised that during the 15 years of armed struggles of various groups against the Shah in pre-revolution times such crimes did not occur but now  under an 'Islamic' regime some women were so violently raped that their sexual organs have been torn and men's rape has resulted in psychological trauma for the victims. Karubi's reference is most likely to the young girl, Taraneh Mousavi, who was kidnapped in daylight and in front of many spectators by the militia. Her mutilated body was dumped in front of a hospital where the staff found her with horrific injuries to her vegina, womb and rectum. While in hospital she tried to commit suicide but she was taken away from there and her burned body was found in the outskirts of a town far from her home. Taraneh's paretns are very religous and for that reason or their extreme devestation they have shut the door to all requests from Taraneh's close friends who witnessed her abduction and refused to speak to anyone. Other reported incident is the case of a young man who was gang-raped for many days while in detention in Shiraz.. He indicates that some detainees who have been released have the scars of torture on their bodies even after 40 days!

Karubi indicates in his letter that the beatings, torture and the killing of children of this country, the forced entry into people's homes, the horrific incidents in the university dormatories, the attacks on people, especially women on the streets and the threatment of detainees is so shameful that is hard to believe even for me and probably you, who have lived a hard life to occur in this day and age.

No one not even Ayattolah Rafsanjani has shown reaction to Karubi'sd letter.