Iranian media report the nation's judiciary chief has ordered officials
to quickly decide the fate of protesters detained in the wake of last
month's disputed presidential election.
Judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said Judiciary Chief Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi said
officials must decide within a week whether to keep detainees in jail
or release them.
The spokesman said 300 protesters remain in
detention from the massive street protests that stemmed from the June
12 re-election victory for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The
political opposition alleges fraud, but Iranian authorities say the
vote was fair.
Also, Human Rights Watch has accused
Iranian authorities of continuing to arrest and harass human rights
lawyers in an attempt to prevent them from representing political
prisoners.
The organization released a statement Sunday based on reports from Iranian attorneys and detainees' family members.
In
other news, Iran's state-run television reports that a senior Iranian
prison official has said meningitis is to blame for the deaths of two
men detained in the post-election crackdown. The deceased have been identified as Mohammad Karami and Mohsen Ruholamini.
Press TV,
citing the semi-official ISNA, quotes Sohrab Soleimani, general director of prisons
in the central province of Tehran, as saying the
18-year-old and 25-year-old detainees were sick before they arrived at
Evin prison.
Meningitis is a potentially fatal disease spread by
bacteria transmitted from person to person through respiratory or
throat secretions. It is highly contagious.
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