Iran slrnüd free sone post-elecfion detainees: MP Reuters ,com http://www.reuters.coni/artic lePrint?aitc leld—USTRE5872N020090908
: t REUTERS
Print I Close this window
Iran should free some post-election
detainees: MP
Tue Sep 8, 2009 12:47pm EDT
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran should immediately release detainees who did not
play a major part in street unrest after its disputed election in June, a
member of a parliamentary investigative committee said on Tuesday.
MP Farhad Tajari also expressed criticism about the conduct of mass trials
that Iran began last month of more than 100 reformers, activists and others
accused of fomenting huge protests against President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad's re-election.
Rights groups say thousands of people, including senior pro-reform figures,
were arrested after the presidential poll almost three months ago. Most of
them have been released but more than 200 remain in jail, according to the
opposition.
Tajari said the committee, set up by parliament to look into post-election
events, had met with new Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi, the
official I RNA news agency reported.
“Members of this committee had some criticisms over the conduct of trials
of detainees accused of being linked to the recent unrest,” Tajari said,
without elaborating.
“One of the points we stressed during the meeting was to immediately
release those detainees who did not have big roles in the unrest,” IRNA
quoted Tajari as saying.
The fates of the others should be clarified soon, he said.
“If they are convicted they should be punished, if there is no evidence
against them their detention should end,” he said.
Reformist former president Mohammad Khatami last month said
confessions made by detainees at the mass trials were obtained under
“extraordinary conditions” and were invalid. Those in the dock include
several of his allies.
Defeated presidential candidates Mehdi Karoubi and Mirhossein Mousavi,
who say the June 12 election was rigged in favor of the hard-line incumbent,
have said some detained opposition protesters were raped and abused in
jail.
The authorities, which say the vote was the healthiest in the Islamic
Republic's history, have denied the rape allegation but have ordered the
closure of one Tehran detention center.
Ahmadinejad's allies have portrayed the street protests, which were put
down by the elite Revolutionary Guards and a pro-government Islamic
militia, as a foreign-backed bid to topple the Islamic Republic's clerical
leadership.
The opposition says more than 70 people were killed in the unrest. The
authorities estimate the death toll at 26 people and say members of the
Basij militia were among them.
Mousavi's website, Kaleme.com, said security forces had raided one of his
offices in Tehran on Monday and confiscated documents and other material
there.
It said it was the premises of an opposition committee looking into
post-election events, including the number of dead and the treatment of
1 of 2 10/22/2009 10:23 AM
Iran slrnüd free sone post-elecfion detainees: MP Reuterscom http://wwwreuters.coni/artic lePrint?aitc leld—USTRE5872N020090908
people held in prison.
(Reporting by Reza Derakhshi; writing by Fredrik DahI; editing by Dominic
Evans)
© Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. Users msy download snd print extrscts of content from
this website for their own persons l snd non-commercial use only. Republicstion or redistribution of
Thomson Reuters content, including by framing or similar mesns, is expressly prohibited without the
prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters snd its logo are registered trademarks or
trademariG of the Thomson Reuters group of companies around the world.
Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and
disclosure of relevant interests.
2 of 2 10/22/2009 10:23 AM
