By The Guardian

Statement comes a day after Iranian parliament announces investigation into circumstances of blogger's death

Iran's state prosecutor has said a jailed blogger died in police custody last week and that wounds were found on his body, the first official confirmation of his death while being held.

The prosecutor's statement came a day after Iran's parliament announced it would investigate reports on the circumstances of Sattar Beheshti's death.

The prosecutor, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi, said Beheshti was detained on 30 October for alleged cybercrimes and taken to Evin prison in north Tehran the next day. He was handed over to cyber police, known as Fata, for interrogation the same day. He died on 3 November.

"The coroner's office has provided a detailed report saying that signs of wounds were found in five places on this person's body, including foot, hand, back and one of his thighs, but no broken bones," the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted Ejehi as saying.

Beheshti's family received a phone call last Wednesday from prison officials asking them to collect his body from the Kahrizak coroner's office.

Ejehi said a final report on the cause of Beheshti's death may take as long as 45 days to release. He said a copy of a letter of complaint in Beheshti's name against his interrogator was found.

The semi-official Isna news agency quoted Ejehi as saying Beheshti claimed in the letter that he was subject to "threats, insults and beatings". Ejehi said Iran's judiciary chief, Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, had ordered a full inquiry into the death.

The government-owned Iran Network news website said three interrogators involved in the case had been arrested. The website did not provide further details.

The Tehran police chief, General Hossein Sajedinia, also confirmed that Beheshti died while in cyber police custody. "The deceased had been handed over to cyber police for completion of investigation under a judicial order for a period of time," Sajedinia told the Asr-e-Iran news website on Monday.

While in jail, Beheshti had officially complained that he was mistreated and tortured, according to Kaleme, a news website close to the opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi that was the first to report the blogger's death. It published a copy of his letter online.

 

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