Sadegh Mahsooli
- Commander of District 5 Corps, West Azerbaijan Province (1982 - 1983)
- Minister of Interior (18 Nov 2008 - 3 Aug 2009)
- Human Rights Violation: Participation in the repression, torture and killing of protesters (2009) read more
- Institution
- Ministry of Interior
- Location
- (National)
- Rights Violated
- Right to freedom from torture, Right to freedom of assembly, Right to life
- Description
As Interior Minister, Sadegh Mahsooli was responsible for the crackdown on detainees, and the torture and killings of activists and students by police, during post-2009 protests by police. This killed at least 72 protesters and injured thousands.
Hundreds of protesters who were taken to police detention centres were subjected to severe physical and sexual torture. On 16 June, 2009, 50 students arrested in an attack on a student dormitory in Tehran were transferred to the basement of the Ministry of Interior and severely tortured. On 9 July, 2009, police arrested a large number of protesters who had gathered in front of the University of Tehran and transferred them to Kahrizak Detention Center. Detainees in Kahrizak were systematically and severely tortured, resulting in the death of at least three detainees, Mohsen Rouhalamini, Amir Javadifar, and Mohammad Kamrani. Ramin Ghahremani and Ahmad Nejati Kargar also died of their injuries shortly after their release from Kahrizak.
- Sources
Description of the horrific events in the university dormitory according to the students, BBC Farsi, 2009
https://www.bbc.com/persian/lg/iran/2009/07/090713_si_ir88_kooy_students
Death in the dormitory; A new narrative of the attack on the university dormitory, Radio Farda, 14 July , 2009
Naked Violence and the Situation of Journalists in Iran, Radio Zamaneh, 16 June, 2009
https://zamaaneh.com/blog/2009/06/post_133.html
Parliament: The information of '- 4 Detention Centre' of the Ministry of Interior will be investigated, BBC Farsi, August 2009
https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran/2009/07/090729_ka_ir88_prisoners_jalali
Details of the torture in Kahrizak Detention Centre, BBC Farsi, 22 December, 2017
https://justice4iran.org/persian/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/avaeio0.pdf
Amir Javadifar; From being beaten on July 9 to death in Kahrizak, Radio Farda, 6 May, 2013
https://www.radiofarda.com/a/f7-victimes-of-88-amir-javadifar/24979564.html
- Human Rights Violation: Participation in the repression, torture and killing of protesters (2009) read more
- Minister of Cooperatives, Labour and Social Welfare (16 Nov 2009 - 17 May 2011)
- Governor, Urmia (Unknown)
- Deputy Provincial Governor, West Azerbaijan Province (Unknown)
- Head of the IRGC Inspection Office (Unknown)
- Secretary of the Advisory Bureau of the Expediency Council (Unknown)
On 10 October, 2011, the European Union placed 29 Iranian officials, including Sadegh Mohsoli, on a human rights sanctions list for their role in widespread and gross violations of the rights of Iranian citizens. Accordingly, Sadegh will be barred from entering the EU and his assets will be confiscated in Europe. According to the EU statement, “as Interior Minister, Mahsooli had authority over all police forces, interior ministry security agents, and plainclothes agents. The forces under his direction were responsible for attacks on the dormitories of Tehran University on 14 June 2009 and the torture of students in the basement of the Ministry (the notorious basement level 4). Other protestors were severely abused at the Kahrizak Detention Centre, which was operated by police under Mahsooli’s control.”