Iranian detainees 'not raped'

TEHRAN // Iran's speaker of parliament on Wednesday rejected as "baseless" an opposition leader's accusation that moderates had been raped in jail following their detention in unrest linked to a disputed June presidential poll. "Based on parliament's investigations, detainees have not been raped or sexually abused in Iran's Kahrizak and Evin prisons. Such claims are totally baseless," Iran's state television quoted Ali Larijani as saying.

The defeated moderate candidate Mehdi Karoubi said on Sunday some protesters, both men and women, had been raped in prison. Many of the post-election detainees were held in south Tehran's Kahrizak prison, built to house people breaching vice laws. At least three people died in custody there and widespread anger erupted as reports of abuse in jail spread. The abuse allegations, rejected also by Tehran's police chief, have created a rift among hardline politicians, many of whom backed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election, followed by the worst unrest in Iran since its 1979 Islamic revolution.

A committee set up by Mr Karoubi and another defeated candidate Mirhossein Mousavi to pursue the issue submitted a list of 69 people killed in protests to parliament on Monday. The list contradicted the official figure of 26 deaths. Conservative defeated presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaie said officials in charge should be put on trial if abuse claims of detainees were proved. * Reuters