POLICE yesterday denied manhandling an Iranian detainee held in a Nicosia police station holding cell since last August.
The denial follows a report in Politis, which printed the contents of a letter written in broken English that the detainee smuggled out last week. The man’s allegations include mistreatment at the hands of police officers and their refusal to allow him to read newspapers, listen to the radio or watch TV.
The complaint has prompted Police Chief Charalambos Koulentis to launch an investigation in the matter.
“The detainee is question has never been abused by any officer here in any way,” a police officer at Lycavitos police station, where the man is being held, told the Cyprus Mail. “All prisoners are treated the same here and given the best treatment humanely possible under the circumstances.”
The officer, who wished to remain unnamed, was not willing to go into details of what the detainee was and wasn’t allowed to do, although he effectively confirmed that watching TV was not part of the package.
According to Politis, the man gave his letter to a Greek Cypriot who’d been detained for drink driving and asked him to please pass it on to Ombudswoman Eliana Nicolaou and the paper on his behalf.
The Iranian, who arrived in Cyprus in August 2001, was denied political asylum in July 2004. In November of the same year, he was held for eight months at the central prisons. He was released after taking his case to the Supreme Court. However, during August of last year, he was re-arrested at the Immigration office, when he went to apply for the necessary documentation to remain in Cyprus, alleging that police officers there tore up the court decision. Since then, he has been held at Lycavitos police station, claiming he was being treated like an animal.
Although the police station denied the allegations, the police chief said he would launch an investigation.
“I do not believe it can be true, but I do not want to take a stand until the investigation has been completed,” he said.
Nevertheless, the detainee’s story has brought to light the fact that around 30 other Iranians are in a similar predicament. Koulentis explained the Iranian in question does not have the necessary travel documents to return home. However, his embassy will not issue the paperwork because, according to the Iranian Constitution, this documentation can only be issued with his consent, which is not forthcoming; this was why he was still in detention, the police chief told reporters when asked to comment.
He said: “If a person does not consent to the issue of travel documents, then they are not issued according to the Iranian Constitution. There are a large number of Iranians, about 25-30, in a similar position because they refuse to go back to their country. The reasons they gave for requesting to stay here is that their political asylum applications were examined and denied. Their cases were sent to a review committee, which also examined their applications. Again, their reasons were not determined as reason enough to have their application for political asylum approved.”
The police chief said to a greater or lesser degree the Iranians’ predicament was of their own doing as they had refused to travel home. He said the issue was a problem at European Union level, as other countries with Iranians denied political asylum within the bloc faced the same dilemma. In fact, Koulentis said it had gone beyond the scope of the national authorities and was now being assessed by the EU to find a solution to the matter.
