Iran faces new civic clashes

The death of a young Kurdish man in a police station in Sanandaj, the capital of Iranian Kurdistan, has triggered new clashes between locals and police in other Kurdish-majority villages and cities.

Last Sunday, Pouya Ebrahimabadi, 22, was arrested in the centre of Sanandaj, during police raids against venues frequented by nationalists. The friends and relatives of the dead man told the Iranian site Khabar that Pouya was tortured for hours during interrogation, before being transferred in critical condition to a local hospital. He died several hours later.

The Sanandaj police offers a diferent version. Commander general Rahim Khorshidvand argues that Pouya, who they say was arrested with several grams of hashish in his pocket, took his life in a holding cell before being interrogated.

The young separatists in Sanandaj are awaiting the restitution of the corpse of Pouya to hold his funeral, in what may become a new anti-regime protest, AKI reports.

V.Y.