TEHRAN – Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, Iran's prosecutor general, has denied rumors that Esmail Bakhshi, spokesman for the independent Workers Union of Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Agro Industrial Company, has been tortured, saying ulterior motives might have been behind the rumors.

“This person has not been an ordinary person,… perhaps he raised the issue of torture in order to cover up his crimes,” Mehr on Monday quoted Montazeri as saying.

Earlier in January, Bakhshi wrote an open letter to Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi, challenging him to a debate, saying he was tortured to the “brink of death without hearing a single reason.”

MH/PA