U.S. Calls on Iran to Account For Kurdish Student's Death
January 23, 2008
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday joined a rights group in
calling for a full investigation into the death of a Kurdish law student in Iran
after he was detained in the western city of Sanandaj.
"The United States is deeply concerned about the tragic death under suspicious
circumstances of Ebrahim Lotfallahi, an Iranian student of Kurdish descent
detained by the Ministry of Intelligence on January 6," U.S. State Department
spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement.
"We call on Iranian authorities to conduct a full investigation," McCormack
said.
The 27-year-old student's family disputes the official determination that he
committed suicide and wants his body exhumed to determine the cause of death, an
attorney representing the family said on Sunday.
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch has also called on the Iranian authorities to
investigate the "sudden deaths" of Lotfallahi and Zahra Bani-Ameri, a
27-year-old female physician, who died
