Tehran, August 09: Amid government efforts to allay concern over the health of prominent reformist Saeed Hajjarian in prison, his doctor says he is seriously worried about his physical condition.
Iranian Prosecutor General, Qorban-Ali Dorri-Najafabadi, said Saturday that Hajjarian, who suffers from partial paralysis, will be soon released at the request of his personal physician.
“Hajjarian is in pretty good shape at the moment. He is receiving all the medical care and attention that he needs,” said Dorri-Najaf-Abadi in an address to a group of judicial officials. “However, his doctor has asked us to consider his physical disabilities and secure his release.”
“So we have decided that it is better that he is freed from prison and placed under house arrest,” said Dorri-Najafabadi.
According Dorri-Najafabadi a special judiciary committee has also called for Hajjarian’s release, nearly two months after he was arrested in the post-election frenzy.
Hajjarian, a Reformist editor and advisor to former president Mohammad Khatami, is said to be one of Iran’s most influential intellectuals and “the brain of the reformist movement”.
In 2000, Hajjarian survived an unsuccessful assassination attempt by extremist elements, and has been left semi-paralyzed ever since.
Mindful of the nagging controversy surrounding the Kahrizak prison, Dorri-Najafabadi regretted that some of the opposition demonstrators had been subjected to extreme measures while in police custody.
“In some prisons, interrogation techniques went too far and grave mistakes were committed that can never be defended, nor justified,” said Dorri-Najafabadi.
He was referring to the Kahrizak detention center in southern Tehran, where post-vote protesters were allegedly kept. Kahrizak was ordered shut by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution after it became known that it lacked the humane standards of confinement.
Dorri-Najafabadi asserted that the officials at Kahrizak, who authorized the harsh interrogation techniques, would be punished by law.
Iran saw a grisly wave of street violence after demonstrators gathered in thousands to protest the election results. At least 20 people were killed and many others injured when some protests turned violent.
More than 300 protestors were subsequently taken to jail for their involvement in the unprecedented mayhem.
The Iranian Prosecutor General said there are currently less than 200 people in police custody as more than 100 detainees have been released on bail in recent days.
—–Agencies