A/HRC/13/42* page 93 added that he had been brought before a court and had in the meantime been released on bail, and that he had not been tortured in detention. The allegations regarding his secret detention were not challenged. 176. In the period from 2000 to 2003, a parliamentary commission established under article 90 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran (which allows individuals to address rights complaints to Parliament) investigated the establishment of secret prisons by authorities other than the national prisons office. The Article 90 Parliamentary Commission found that a number of authorities had established such unofficial, often secret, places of detention: the Ministry of Information, the Army and Military Police Counter-Intelligence Service, the Law Enforcement and General Inspectorate Protection Service, the Pasdaran Counter-Intelligence Service and Military Police, the Bassidj and the Ministry of Defence Counter-Intelligence Service.352 177. In addition to the secret detention facilities run by the militias, intelligence services and other agencies, there are also concerns about sector 209 at Evin Prison on the outskirts of Teheran. It is considered a “prison within a prison”, where political prisoners in particular are held, often in prolonged, solitary and incommunicado confinement.353 When the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention visited Evin Prison in 2003, it was able to visually verify the existence of this “prison within a prison”, but its attempts to visit sector 209 were cut short by secret service agents.354 178. Following the presidential elections held on 12 June 2009, tens of thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets of Tehran and other cities throughout the country to call for the annulment of the election results. It has been alleged that, while protests were largely peaceful, violent clashes with security forces resulted in numerous deaths and detentions.355 These allegations were transmitted to the Government by several mandate holders on different occasions.356 352 Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on its visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran (E/CN.4/2004/3/Add.2), para. 36. 353 Ibid., paras. 32 and 54. 354 Ibid., para. 32. 355 “Iran: detained political leaders at risk of torture, possibly to force ‘confessions’”, Amnesty International news release, 29 June 2009, available from www.amnesty.org/en/news-andupdates/news/detained-political-leaders-at-risk-of-torture-20090629. 356 See, inter alia, the joint urgent appeals sent by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders and the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment on 18 June and 11 August 2009 (A/HRC/13/39/Add.1).