Iran

Post-election protest death toll could be higher

Article published on the 2009-08-11 Latest update 2009-08-11 12:21 TU

An ally of Iranian opposition election candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi claims that 69 people died in the post-election protest violence in June, according to Sarmayeh daily newspaper. The official Iranian toll was 26.

A file containing the names of 69 people who died during the demonstrations, which turned violent in Iran immediately after the presidential election on 12 June, is in the hands of the Iranian parliament, said Ali Reza Hosseini Beheshti. He said that the deaths are to be investigated.

"The document also contains the names of about 220 people detained after the elections," he said.

Iran's judiciary on Tuesday said that 4,000 people were initially arrested by security forces in the crackdown on protestors. They were contesting the election result that reinstated Mahmud Ahmedinajad as president.

Judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said that about 3,700 were only detained for a short time, and were then released.

At least 110 people have been put on trial before a court in Tehran, accused of being involved in the unrest in a variety of ways.

Meanwhile, Sweden has summoned Iran's ambassador to protest against the trials of alleged election protesters and will take further steps if necessary.

Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said in an interview on Swedish Radio on Tuesday that "we called in the Iranian ambassador to the foreign ministry to reiterate and reinforce this message and tell him what kind of measures we expect from Iran. On this and other issues."