Iran says some jailers abused protesters

Iranian police have acknowledged that some demonstrators arrested during protests over June's disputed presidential election have been mistreated and say several prison warders face punishment.

The abuses took place in the Kahrizak detention centre in south Tehran originally built for suspected violators of Iran's vice laws, a police statement carried by the ISNA news agency said on Thursday, adding that the detained protesters should have been held in the capital's main Evin prison.

"There were breaches of the rules and negligence by several managers and staff of the Kahrizak detention centre," the statement said.

"Two officers have been punished for beating prisoners."

Several managers and employees have been "sacked and face other sanctions for having received more prisoners than the centre was intended to accommodate, for not reporting the problems encountered and for failing to check on the prison conditions of the detainees," it added.

At the end of July, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the closure of Kahrizak, saying that its facilities failed to safeguard prisoners' rights.

Some 2,000 prisoners were detained during the protests that followed the controversial June 12 re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Most have since been released but more than 100 are now on trial.

Official reports say that 30 people died in clashes with security forces and militiamen during the protests. Two detainees have also died, from meningitis according to the authorities. Press reports have spoken of four deaths in custody.

AFP