The Iranian Regime Denies Reformists to Be Released

AFP

Tehran prosecutors have denied a report that 20 people, among them reformists, accused of involvement in post-election riots will soon be freed on bail, the official IRNA news agency reported on Monday. IRNA had on Sunday quoted an "informed source" as saying that around 20 of the scores of people still in detention after being rounded up during the clashes would soon be released. The source said that among those to be freed are Iranian-American scholar Kian Tajbakhsh and reformist politicians Mohammed Ali Abtahi, Mohammad Atrianfar, Shahab Tabatabaei, Saeed Shariati and Abdollah Momeni. "The release of a specific number of defendants regarding the recent incidents is denied," by the Tehran prosecution office, IRNA said. The agency quoted the office as stressing that, "the release of detained people will be carried out under the framework of law and if any decision is made, the public will be informed accordingly." Iran's government confronted those who protested the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the June 12 presidential poll, which the opposition says was massively rigged. In the initial post-election crackdown, security forces arrested some 4,000 people. Most have now been released but around 140 including top reformists and political activists have been put on trial at mass hearings.