Iran’s Opposition Claims ‘Evidence’ of Rapes

Robert Mackey in the New York Times:

On Wednesday in Tehran, the reformist cleric Mehdi Karroubi asked to meet with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other senior Iranian officials to present “documents and evidence” supporting his claims that some protesters detained during post-election demonstrations in Iran had been raped in custody.

Mr. Karroubi, one of the candidates in the June 12 presidential election, which the opposition continues to insist was rigged, made his call for a meeting in a letter to Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament. He also published the letter online (in Persian).

According to a Reuters translation, Mr. Karroubi asked Mr. Larijani to organize a meeting with Mr. Ahmadinejad and other senior figures, including Mr. Larijani’s brother, Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, who is the new head of Iran’s judiciary, and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president who leads a powerful clerical body and has supported the opposition. If the meeting were to take place, Mr. Karroubi promised he would “personally present my documents and evidence over the cases of sexual abuse in some prisons.”

More here.