[JURIST] The death of an Iranian prisoner in police custody was determined to have been caused by beatings and poor prison conditions [MNA report] in the wake of the post-election turmoil [JURIST news archive], according to the semi-official Mehr News Agency Monday. Mohsen Rouhalamini, son of the adviser to defeated presidential candidate Mohsen Rezai [Iran Focus profile] was said by police authorities to have died of meningitis. The medical report by a state forensic doctor stated that Rouhalamini's death was not caused by meningitis but was caused by multiple blows [AP report] and severe injury to his body after being kept in a detention center and then transferred to a prison. Rouhalamini was arrested as part of the Iranian government's attempts to control the protests [JURIST report] that broke out after the June 12 presidential election.

Last week, Iran began the fourth mass trial [JURIST report] of election protesters and reformists. Earlier in August, three UN human rights experts called on Iran's Revolutionary Court to reject protesters' confessions obtained through torture [JURIST report]. Also this month, Iran's Prosecutor General Ghorban Ali Dorri Najafabadi acknowledged [JURIST report] that some protesters arrested after the election were tortured. In July, Iran released [JURIST report] some 140 detainees arrested during the election aftermath after Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] and other groups alleged that some protesters were beaten, deprived of sleep, and threatened with torture in an effort to force false confessions [JURIST report]. Earlier that month, opposition leaders called for the release [JURIST report] of those detained for their alleged involvement in the protests. Also in July, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI) [advocacy website] reported that the number of deaths that occurred at the protests exceeded government reports [JURIST report].