The member of Iran's National Security Commission leading an investigation into the death of Sattar Beheshti in prison says the head of Iran’s Cyber Police should resign.
Mehdi Davatgari told the Fars News Agency that police violations against Sattar Beheshti have been “confirmed”. He added that the detained blogger was arrested “without a warrant from the judiciary” and was held under “completely illegal” conditions.
Davatgari emphasized that police officials ignored a judge’s order to transfer Beheshti to a detention centre and kept him in the custody of the Cyber Police.
Davatgari said: “Only the resignation of the head of the Cyber Police can redeem this institution from the errors that took place in this case at such a heavy cost to the system.”
Iran’s Cyber Police is headed by Brigadier Kamal Hadianfar.
Beheshti, an Iranian dissident blogger, was arrested on October 30 and died a few days later while in custody of the Cyber Police. The Tehran Prosecutor’s office announced that a number of officials have been charged in connection with the case; however, the government probe into Beheshti’s death is still ongoing.
Most recently, the Beheshti family told opposition media that they are certain Sattar Beheshti was killed under torture while in prison.
