Torture of prisoners in Iran outlined

Here is an excerpt from Revolutionary Road

The kinds of tortures used on prisoners:

Ones who have been arrested by plain clothes and basij, were severely beaten, and were transferred to detention facilities and basij stations, and at the end before being taken to Evin prison, transferred to investigation department of Shapoor ( Vahdat Eslami). They were tortured severely in each and every one of these facilities, and have heard complains from the police force about them being limited on beating the prisoners, due to the severity of the prior tortures they had gone through, but still they were not hesitant about it.

The interesting point is they were actually enjoying putting people through this, and all of the beating was accompanied by their laughter and mockery

• Word has it, they broke the left side of someones scull, and to make it even they broke the right side as well.
• During a group beating of prisoners, they were told by someone, that captives should not be tortured, then he has pushed everyone aside, and started the beating himself, after he was tired, he has ordered them to resume their beatings.
• One states after requesting for his hand cuffs to be loosened a little bit, they have actually made it tighter to the point that it had pinched the skin, and he was taken from one place to another by his cuffs.
• Some prisoners state, they were forced to kneel in front of a wall for 4 days straight, and were only given two small portions to eat, and during the 4 days, they were beaten in the head if they had happened to fall sleep.
• One states the first shock he had gotten from taser, has thrown him almost 2 meters away, but now after being tortured, he has no reaction to the taser gun.
• The ones who were a little more buffed were more in target, with the excuse of demolishing public properties and hitting the security forces.
• Group beating of prisoners, hitting with baton, cable, bats, taser as well as kicking the prisoners in the face even the injured, has been seen a lot.
• A witness states, some injuries were due to hitting and kicking, and also hitting with bloody cables, chains and etc...
• wrist fractures were seen in most cases.

This is an affront to human decency and must stop.

Burma Video: Show Trial of Aung San Suu Kyi begins in Rangoon

Aung San Suu Kyi -the Burmese opposition leader has remained under house arrest since 2003.

The law called the "Law to Safeguard the State Against the Dangers of Those Desiring to Cause Subversive Acts" ordains that the maximum period someone could be held without trial was five years. Accordingly it was assumed that she would be released in 2008. This was not to reckon with the malfeasance of the Burmese junta which simply extended her detention by another year on the pretext that the first year of detention did nor count. She was now due for release in 2009. Undoubtedly the Burmese junta would have manufactured a pretext to ensure that she was not released.

Enter John Yettaw-an American who swam across Inya Lake on 3 May to reach the opposition leader's house. Undoubtedly the authorities could have prevented this but failed to act. He remained at the house for two days pleading exhaustion. This offered the Junta the perfect pretext to deny Ms Suu Kyi her liberty. Ms Suu Kyi and her two assistants were arrested and taken to Insein prison, where they went on trial today. She has no prospects of a fair trial. This is a show trial designed to ensure a prison sentence which will keep her out of circulation in 2010 when elections are due to be held.

China, India and Russia have strong trading links with Burma. There is also close military cooperation between the Chinese and the Burmese junta. China and Russia have vetoed resolutions at the UN designed to bring the junta to heel. Consequently the Butchers of Rangoon are impervious to realism. They feel impregnable. World public opinion is of little concern to them.

Repression of bloggers and political opponents continues in Burma, China and Tibet (Call for Reporters and Bloggers to Boycott Beijing Olympics)

Sometimes I think Europeans and Americans are too inclined to take democracy for granted.
In the run in to the Beijing Olympics there has been a huge crack down on dissidents by the Chinese authorities. Meanwhile the level of Chinese repression has accelerated in Tibet. China supports the repressive regimes in Burma, Zimbabwe and Sudan.

During the Saffron Revolution in Burma in September- spearheaded by Buddhist monks- the Tyrants of Rangoon shut down the communications systems. Frequently courageous bloggers were the only reliable source of information. Many of these were arrested and disappeared.
Nay Phone Latte, a young blogger who has been held since 29 January in the notorious Insein prison, is facing a possible seven-year sentence.

Saw Wai, a poet who was arrested on 22 January for criticising junta chief Gen. Than Shwe in coded message in a poem published in the weekly Achit Journal, appeared before the Insein prison special court for the third time on 8 July. He is now also facing a possible seven-year jail sentence.

During the Saffron Revolution the brutality of the Burmese regime was flashed around the world. The international media has now moved on to pastures new. Once more the Tyrants of Rangoon are free to repress the opposition and to stamp out all vestiges of free speech.
The following message from a blogger and Buddhist monk called Ashin Mettacara has appeared in opednews under the heading "Calling Reporters and Bloggers to boycott Beijing and to declare one day period of media mourning"

"Dear Reporters and Bloggers,
I am a 27-year-old Buddhist monk from Burma, currently studying is Sri Lanka. While I was studying in the Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka in September 2007, there was a Saffron Revolution in Burma. The military regime cracked down on the peaceful protestors who mostly were Buddhist monks. As I could not reconcile myself with the current military regime's human right abuses, I became a blogger. I am not a political monk nor reporter. My wish is just to use the freedom I have out of Burma to help people of my country to get freedom and be away from the unbearable pain they have to endure for too many decades.
Coming 08-08-08 is the opening ceremony of Beijing Olympics in China and the 20th anniversary of the 08-08-1988 popular demonstration in Burma, when many thousands of people were killed under the military junta's brutal crackdown.

China is a major trading partner, major weapons supplier and major defender of the Burma military junta in the United Nations Security Council. Because of China's support, the military junta in Burma is still in power to this day.

I would like to call on each and every reporter and blogger around the world to boycott, without reporting information, photo and video footage of Olympics ceremonies.

I also think it would be righteous to declare 08-08-08 as a day of media mourning for the thousands who died in 1988 demonstrations in Burma, and to raise awareness of China's policies concerning Burma, the Falun Gong, Darfur and Tibet."
Will his appeal fall on deaf ears?