Sun, Dec 20 08:31 AM
Iran's judiciary has charged three jail officials with the murder of three pro-reform Iranians detained after the disputed June 12 presidential election, the students news agency ISNA reported on Saturday.
Thousands of people protesting against the conduct of the election were arrested and some were beaten in detention. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the closure of Kahrizak detention centre in southern Tehran in July, after two detainees at the centre died in hospital.
"Some 12 officials at Kahrizak detention centre have been charged. Three of them have been charged with murder," ISNA quoted a judiciary statement as saying. "The date of their trial will be announced later," the statement added.
Moderate websites reported the deaths of several protesters in Kahrizak, and the son of a top adviser to defeated presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaie is one of the three detainees the jail officials are charged with murdering.
Opposition leaders said some protesters detained after the election had been under "severe physical and mental pressure" in Kahrizak.
The election, which secured President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election, sparked Iran's worst unrest since the Islamic revolution three decades ago and exposed deep divisions in the establishment. Authorities deny allegations of vote-rigging.
Iranian police confirmed in August that serious violations had taken place at the detention centre. The authorities initially said the detainees in Kahrizak had died of meningitis, but the coroner's office denied this.
"The coroner's office rejected the claim that these people died of meningitis and confirmed there were bruises on their bodies from beatings and that the cause of their death was a series of beatings," ISNA quoted the statement as saying.
Thousands were arrested after the election. Most have since been freed, but more than 80 people have so far been sentenced to jail terms of up to 15 years, and five have been sentenced to death.
The reformist opposition says more than 70 people were killed in post-election violence. Officials say the death toll was half that and included volunteer Basij militiamen.
(Writing by Parisa Hafezi, editing by Tim Pearce)
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