A Kurdish resident of the city of Mahabad was detained by security guards and a few days later his lifeless body was turned over to his immediate family. The victim was identified as Hashem Ramezani, and he was from a village in Bokan region and he was residing in Mahabad. Agents from the Ministry of Intelligence in this city detained Mr. Ramezani in the beginning of last week and charged him with security violations. After Mr. Ramezani, detention, he was transferred to the ministry’s office in the city of Oromiah.
Four days after Mr. Ramezani’s detention, security agents contacted the family members and asked them to come to the Ministry of Intelligence in Oromiah to receive his body. Security agents claimed Mr. Ramezani committed suicide in the ministry’s detention center. In spite of a request by family members to have Mr. Oromiah’s body transferred to Tehran for an autopsy by a medical examiner prior to delivering the body to the family, the agents refused and, furthermore, the agent refused to acknowledge that the demand was ever made by the family members.
Mr. Ramezani was 45 years old, married and had children.
