Iran to close jail holding protesters

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei orders a jail closed that houses protesters arrested after last month's election.

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Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered a jail holding protesters detained after last month's election to close as it is not up to required standards, a top official said today. "The supreme leader has issued a strict order to ensure that there is no injustice committed against anyone in the aftermath of the recent events," the secretary of Iran's National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, said in a statement carried on the state-run English language channel Press TV.

"As an example, he has ordered the closure of a detention centre which was not up to required standards." Mr Jalili did not specify the location of the jail. Iranian judicial officials say about 300 protesters arrested during the demonstrations that followed the president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's hotly disputed re-election are still being detained. In all, up to 2,000 protestors, political activists and journalists were detained but most have since been released, official reports says.

* AFP