NATIONALIST-RELIGIOUS ACTIVIST ABDUCTED AND TORTURED

TEHRAN 30 May (IPS)    "Worshippers" of the "velayat", or the present Iranian regime led by Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i in Shiraz, the capital city of southern Province of Fars, have abducted and beaten and tortured to death a nationalist-religious activist, "curving" with cutter on his back the names of dissident Grand Ayatollah Hoseinali Montazeri, Dr. Mohammad Mosadeq and Dr. Habibollah Peyman, the leader of a nationalist-religious organisation.

In a statement released Wednesday in Tehran, the Nationalist-religious group said Mr. Vahid Sadeqi, an activist of the organisation in Shiraz, had been abducted at the doorsteps of his home by four plainclothes men and taken to a safe house where he had been interrogated and subject to a wide-range of mental and physical tortures and abuses, burning his arms with acid, his chest hairs with lighters and injecting "serum of truth".

The publication and distribution of pictures of tortures endured by Mr. Sadeqi have created a new row among Iranians outside Iran, as the local press had been warned bythe authorities not to publish them, saying the whole affair might have been "orchestrated by the Nationalist-religious in order to create more trouble for the regime".

Mr. Sadeqi had been in charge of the the organisation of frothiest days of the death of Dr. Yadollah Sahhabi, one of the founders of the Iran Freedom Movement (IFM) and had participated actively in the presidential campaign of 1997 and legislative elections that both were won by reformist candidates, including Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khatami, the present President.

On orders from Ayatollah Khameneh'i, the Judiciary last year arrested some 60 prominent members and activists of both Nationalist-religious groups and IFM and outlawed both formations, that are among the most popular political organisations in Iran. These pictures have forced the Shiraz MP to make pressure on the Islamic Republic Ministry of Information to open an immediate investigation on the methods used by its agents.

Speaking to the Persian service of the Prague-based Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty, Mr. Sadeqi confirmed that he had been abducted by plainclothes men in a taxi he had flagged. "As the car drove to a certain destination, one of the passengers put a gun on my head and ordered to shut up. On reaching the destination, a safe house, I was undressed, put on a metallic bed made specially for torturing, equipped with straps to tie up feet, hands and the body.

"At first I was thrown acid on my arms and as I was loosing conscience, I was ordered to curse Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, whom they termed "devilish". As I refused, telling them he is in my heart, they started throwing more acid, burn hairs on my chest, pour fire powder over the acid and light and inject with truth serum", Mr. Sadeqi related, adding that at the end, they curved the names of Peyman, Montazeri and Mosadeq on his back, placing the dots with cigarette bouts.

Eventually, he was taken back and abandoned near the house of a prominent Nationalist-religious personality of the city.

According to Mr. Sadeqi, the men were all professional torturers, equipped with professional instruments, presenting themselves as "worshippers of velayat" (meaning the leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khameneh'i) and would order him to curse the names of Mr. Montazeri and Dr. Mosadeq, the popular Iranian nationalist Premier who was overthrown by a CIA-British mounted coup after he nationalised the oil industries in 1953.

Both men are loathed by Mr. Khameneh'i, who has placed the dissident cleric under house arrest since 1997, sealed his residence and classes in Qom. ENDS ACTIVIST TORTURED 30502

Above are 2 pictures of Mr. Sadeqi,, released by the Nationalist-religious groups and available on the internet. On the picture on the left side one can read, clockwise, the names of Peyman, Montazeri and Mosadeq curved with cutters and dots "written" with cigarette.

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