Mother of Sattar Beheshti, who died in custody, says campaign of intimidation has been launched against family. The Iranian blogger Sattar Beheshti pictured with his mother.
The mother of an Iranian blogger who died in custody has accused the authorities of killing her son and launching an intimidation campaign against her family.
Sattar Beheshti was a 35-year-old blogger from the city of Robat-Karim who lost his life while being interrogated by Iran’s cyberpolice, accused of acting against the national security because of what he had posted on Facebook. Iran’s opposition activists have accused the regime of torturing Beheshti to death. In jail, Beheshti had no access to his family nor to a lawyer…
“I have no fears. I can’t accept that my son has died by natural causes. My son has been killed. He went to jail standing on his own legs and they gave us his dead body.”
Embarrassed by the fury among Iranians over the incident, officials from the judiciary acknowledged in a rare move that he had died in prison and promised a thorough investigation but have since sent out mixed messages about the causes of his death.
Opposition websites also reported that an Iranian prisoner who witnessed the signs of torture on Beheshti’s body and spoke about it to prison officials has since gone on hunger strike after being persecuted…
A week after Beheshti’s arrest, his family received phone calls from the prison authorities telling them to buy a grave and collect his body. His body received an Islamic washing ritual but the funeral was carried out by security officials and with the presence of only one family member…
She said the authorities had threatened the family with the arrest of Beheshti’s sister should they speak to the media.
“Why did they have an arrest warrant for my daughter in their hands? Why do the officials follow us everywhere we go? Why was his shroud bloody?” said the mother.