Death of Omid Ghanouni in Khansar custody; Isfahan justice department calls account of beating "false"

The Isfahan provincial justice department called accounts of the beating of Omid Ghanouni, a 17-year-old from Khansar who died less than a day after being detained at the city's justice department, "false and contrary to the facts". According to HRANA, the head of the Isfahan provincial justice department claimed in his official account that packets of drugs were found in the teenager's stomach — an account that contradicts what local sources say about his beating by Basij forces.

According to the provincial justice chief, Omid Ghanouni was arrested on the evening of Monday, 5 October, on a charge of "distributing and selling narcotics", taken to the prosecutor's office on Wednesday morning and held in the Khansar justice department's detention facility. He claimed the teenager suffered a sudden stomach ache at about 11:50, lost consciousness and died after being taken to Khansar hospital. He claimed the initial forensic medicine report points to packets of drugs in his stomach. The teenager's age is not mentioned in the official account.

Local sources' account of the beating and internal bleeding

Local sources give a different account. According to them, Omid Ghanouni was arrested on 6 October after a clash with Basij forces in the village of Arjanak in Khansar and was beaten with a rifle butt during the arrest. According to this account, during interrogation he complained of severe abdominal pain, but officers, despite his father's request, prevented him from being taken to a medical centre. Local sources have given "internal bleeding" as the cause of death.

Omid Ghanouni was buried in the village of Arjanak on Thursday, 8 October. On Friday, 9 October, a number of his family members gathered in front of the Vist police station and demanded accountability for the cause of his death.

A repeated pattern of deaths in custody

In earlier deaths in custody, too, the Islamic Republic's judiciary has rejected the accounts of families and witnesses and attributed the cause of death to illness or drug use. No independent body has so far been allowed to examine the official account of Omid Ghanouni's death, and the full forensic medicine report has not been published. Meanwhile, the head of the Isfahan provincial justice department has in recent days also announced the start of identifying unveiled women.

Isfahan's justice department speaks of packets of drugs in Omid Ghanouni's stomach; local sources speak of a rifle butt and internal bleeding.

Sources

• HRANA
• IranWire