HUMAN rights campaigners are appealing for pressure on Iran to release thousands of detainees arrested for taking part in mass protests.

The Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People’s Rights (Codir) warns that prisoners’ lives may be in danger, pointing to evidence that one protester, 22-year-old Sina Ghanbari, died on January 6 in “unclear circumstances” while held in the quarantine section of Tehran’s Evin Prison.

In exchanges with two Iranian MPs, the intelligence and security forces have claimed that Mr Ghanbari committed suicide.

Based on information from a committee set up by Tehran University to look into the whereabouts of arrested students, Codir also flagged up concern over Ashkan Absavaran, whom officials describe as “missing,” though his family say that he phoned them to tell them he’d been arrested, and Kasra Nouri, who reportedly went on hunger strike after being detained.

Mr Nouri is a member of the Gonabadi dervish order, which is persecuted by Iranian authorities, and his family say his lawyers have been refused access to him and no information has been released about his condition.

The Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal has stated its intention to charge the “rioters,” who took to the streets in protest against widespread unemployment and poverty in the theocratic state, with “moharabeh” (enmity with God), a charge which often results in a death sentence.

Codir highlighted the cases of Zahra Kazemi and Sattar Beheshti, who were killed during interrogation, and other prisoners who have died in suspicious circumstances in Iranian custody, including trade unionist Shahrokh Zamani. It called for letters of protest to be written to Iranian authorities and embassies.