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Khamenei orders closure of Iran jail holding protesters
Iran's leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered the closure of a jail holding protesters detained after last month's disputed poll, an official said on Tuesday, in a gesture towards the opposition which is demanding their release.
Iran's leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered the closure of a jail holding protesters detained after last month's disputed poll, an official said on Tuesday, in a gesture towards the opposition which is demanding their release.
"The supreme leader has issued a strict order to ensure there is no injustice committed against anyone in the aftermath of the recent events," said the secretary of Iran's National Security Council, Saeed Jalili.
"As an example, he has ordered the closure of a detention centre which was not up to required standards," he said in a statement carried on state-run Press TV.
Kazem Jalali, an MP and member of a panel set up by parliament to investigate the situation of prisoners, said it was Kahrizak detention centre, south of Tehran, that has been ordered to close.
The panel members are to visit Tehran's notorious Evin prison to check on conditions for detained protesters, he added, quoted by Mehr news agency.
Iranian judicial officials say around 300 protesters arrested during the demonstrations which followed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's hotly disputed re-election on June 12 are still being detained.
A total of up to 2,000 protesters, political activists and journalists were detained but most have since been released, according to official reports.
