US Court Finds Islamic Republic Liable for Ex-Deputy PM's Torture in Custody

A US court has found the Islamic Republic of Iran responsible for the torture inflicted on former Deputy Prime Minister Abbas Amirentezam during his almost 40 years of unlawful incarceration and house arrest that ultimately led to his death in 2018.

The United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of Amirentezam's children, ordering Iran to compensate each of them with $3,250,000 in compensatory damages, and pay an equivalent sum in punitive damages to each of them. 

Given that Iran has no assets within the United States, the plaintiffs will not be able to recover funds from blocked Iranian assets in the country.

"This decision solidifies our father's legacy as a man who endured years of torture and inhumane treatment, never yielding to his abusers,” Amirentezam’s children said after the ruling.

“We pursued this case to underscore the importance of accountability and to demonstrate that we can triumph over the regime that took our father away from us."

Ali Herischi of Herischi Human Rights Law Center, who represented the plaintiff in the case, expressed hope that the ruling “not only solidifies his innocence but also sheds light on the brutal treatment and torture he endured while incarcerated in Iranian prisons.”

“Mr. Amirentezam is a symbol of unwavering resistance against injustice, serving his arbitrary life sentence without ever seeking power or requesting pardon. He consistently called for a fair and open retrial, an opportunity that was tragically denied to him,” Herischi also said.

Amirentezam died on July 12, 2018, at his home in Tehran. He was 86. 

He was said to be the longest-serving political prisoner in Iran.

Deputy of Mehdi Bazargan, the first prime minister after the 1979 Islamic revolution, he was sentenced to life in prison on charges of spying for the United States – accusations he denied.

He was released 17 years later.