An Iranian man’s death and the state’s enduring torture tactics
The recent death of Mohammad Mir-Mousavi, who succumbed to injuries from severe torture while in custody, has once again revealed the pervasive abuse within Iran's police, security, and judicial institutions.
The case, occurring at a detention center in northern Gilan province, starkly illustrates that extrajudicial killings are not isolated incidents but integral to the state’s broader system of repression and oppression.
For some time now, human rights activists have identified several of Iran's detention centers as particularly deadly for prisoners, including Shapour Intelligence Detention Center in Tehran and others in Shiraz, Yasuj, Bushehr, Bandar Abbas, and Zahedan. Among these, Shapour Detention Center in southern Tehran stands out as one of the most notorious, often referred to as the "dungeon for prisoners."
In these detention centers, suspects are treated as guilty from the outset, with interrogators using various forms of torture to extract confessions. Detainees are often handcuffed, shackled, and kept in unsanitary conditions throughout their detention and interrogation.
Upon arrival at these centers, suspects are immediately presumed guilty, and interrogators employ various torture methods to extract confessions. The moment a detainee enters the interrogation rooms, they are often told that the only way out is to confess to the charges already prepared for them. The interrogators, who often conceal their identities, use a range of torture methods, from sleep deprivation and beatings to more extreme physical abuse, such as whipping with cables, baton strikes, and even "roasting," where detainees are tied and suspended from a rod, enduring severe pain until they confess.
The sanitary conditions are deplorable, and detainees are often kept in handcuffs and shackles for the duration of their detention and interrogation. If a detainee denies the charges, they are immediately subjected to beatings by multiple officers, escalating to more brutal forms of torture if they continue to resist.
If they refuse to confess, they are subjected to further torture, including prolonged sleep deprivation, beatings with cables and batons, and other cruel methods. Extreme methods such as suspending detainees by their hands or feet, breaking bones, and burning with cigarettes are routinely employed. As their physical condition deteriorates, many are coerced into giving false confessions or accepting fabricated charges.
Some detainees, after being forced to make false confessions under torture, retract their statements in court, only to face threats of further torture from their interrogators. These confessions often lead to long prison sentences or even execution.
In recent years, some detainees who have been coerced into confessing under torture have recanted their statements in court, emphasizing the brutality they endured during interrogation. However, many others, fearing further torture or retribution, reluctantly confirm their confessions in court, which often leads to severe sentences, including imprisonment or execution. Some suffer lifelong physical and psychological scars from their ordeal, bearing the pain and trauma of their torture for the rest of their lives.
Security agencies such as the Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC Intelligence Organization sometimes transfer political and ideological prisoners who resist confessing under torture in security wards to the detention centers of the Intelligence Department. They believe that detainees sent to these detention centers will eventually, under the pressure of torture, accept all or part of the fabricated scenarios prepared for them and confess to crimes they did not commit.
Despite the ongoing use of torture, which violates Article 38 of the Islamic Republic's Constitution which bans torture for extracting confessions or obtaining information, authorities continue their practices unchecked. Iran has consistently refused to join the United Nations Convention Against Torture, citing this constitutional provision.
A pattern of impunity
Mir-Mousavi’s death has sparked widespread outrage in Iran, with many on social media also sharing the stories of other detainees who have suffered similar fates under the regime’s security apparatus.
Lawyer Ali Mojtahedzadeh condemned the death, calling it "a crime." He stressed that "those who ordered and carried out this atrocity, regardless of their position, are criminals deserving of punishment."
Mohammad Habibi, a teachers' union activist, highlighted that many young individuals like Mir-Mousavi face torture within police and security institutions, with their suffering frequently remaining unacknowledged. Habibi shared his own experiences from the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary, where he observed numerous inmates with broken limbs and bruised bodies returning from the Shapour Detention Center’s Intelligence section and other police facilities.
Atefeh Nabavi, previously a political prisoner, shared a story of a female inmate accused of murder, noting how she had been beaten so severely that her speech had become impaired, oscillating between confusion and consciousness. Despite the lack of evidence against her, she was tortured into confessing.
A former commander of the notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guards also commented on the death of Mir-Mousavi. "Why do such incidents keep happening from time to time?" Hossein Alaei said at a police station in Lahijan. The Navy commander stressed the importance of proper training for police officers in their interactions with the public.
In fact, it is not a matter of incidents occurring "from time to time" but rather a recurring pattern of abuse and torture that has persisted under the regime for years, with impunity.
Since the inception of the Islamic Republic, tens of thousands—likely many more—of political and ideological detainees, protesters, opponents of the mandatory hijab, journalists, and other societal members have endured torture in Iran’s detention centers, with many losing their lives as a result.
Families of these victims, seeking justice for their loved ones, often encounter futility in their efforts. Investigations rarely identify the perpetrators, and accountable officials frequently face no consequences.
For decades, Iranian authorities have persistently refused to acknowledge any responsibility for these deaths.
