TEHRAN: The families of three anti-government protesters killed in an Iranian jail have exercised their right to reprieve two warders sentenced to death for their murders, the Mehr news agency reported on Wednesday.
But in a letter carried by the news agency, the families of Mohammad Kamrani, Amir Javadifar and Mohsen Ruholamini demanded that the senior officials they hold responsible for the killings be prosecuted.
"We, the families of the martyrs of Kahrizak crime, announce that we grant clemency to the two executioners sentenced to death for this crime," the letter said.
An Iranian military court sentenced the two men to death in June.
But under Iranian law, the lives of those on death row can be spared if the families of their victims exercise their right to grant a reprieve and the death sentence is then automatically commuted.
Kamrani, Javadifar and Ruholamini died in the notorious Kahrizak prison, south of the capital Tehran, last year after they were arrested during the unrest which erupted following the controversial re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The prison was shut down in July last year on the orders of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Tehran’s notorious former prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi and two other judges have been suspended over the deaths but the families demanded tougher action against the senior officials they hold responsible.
"We seriously want the regime to prosecute and punish the legal, political, military and security authorities who ordered this crime," the families said in their letter.
Iranian officials have faced major embarrassment over the Kahrizak deaths and grudgingly admitted after months of denial that the three young men had died of injuries inflicted in custody.
Security forces responded with an iron fist to the mass protests that greeted official results giving Ahmadinejad victory in last year’s election.
Dozens of people died in the ensuing clashes.
