ABC blog

Political prisoner Mas’oud Ghanbarzehi has been transferred to Zahedan Central Prison after being subjected to three weeks of torture and abuse in detention at the Intelligence Ministry facility in that city, reports the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

The 27-year-old Ghanbarzehi was arrested on the charge of “actions against national security by way of collaboration with dissident groups.” While in custody of the Intelligence Ministry, he was held in solitary confinement.

An informed source told HRANA that Intelligence Ministry interrogators sought to extract a forced confession from Ghanbarzehi by way of the “miracle bed” torture device. The “miracle bed” is a common method of obtaining forced confessions from prisoners, particularly in the Zahedan Intelligence Ministry facility. Interrogators tie an individual down to a rack and flog him so much that he loses the ability to resist. Other inmates such as Mohammad Saber Malek Ra’isi, Abdolkarim Sheh Bakhsh, and Nur Ahmad Hassan Zehi have spoken of the device.