'The issue of detainees being sexually abused is a lie,' parliament speaker Ali Larijani (left) told the assembly. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
TEHERAN - IRAN'S powerful conservative camp rejected on Wednesday claims that election protesters were raped in custody and issued a stern warning to opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi for raising the allegations.
HUNDREDS of thousands of supporters of defeated candidates took to the streets of Teheran to protest at Ahmadinejad's victory, which has bitterly divided the country's clergy and the ruling elite.
An aide to Mr Ahmadinejad's main challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi has reportedly said that 69 protesters were killed in the unrest, more than double the official figure of about 30 people.
As the political turmoil raged on, lawmakers urged Iran to review ties with Western nations they accuse of 'meddling' in its affairs, saying the United States, Britain and France was backing opposition groups.
'The issue of detainees being sexually abused is a lie,' parliament speaker Ali Larijani told the assembly, the official IRNA news agency reported.
'Following an investigation of detainees in Kahrizak and Evin prisons, no cases of rape and sexual abuse were found,' he said, referring to the jails where most people arrested after the June election were initially detained.
Defeated presidential candidate Karroubi claimed in a letter to powerful cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani that several protesters had been raped and called for an investigation.
'A number of detainees have said that some female detainees have been raped savagely. Young boys held in detention have also been savagely raped,' Mr Karroubi said in a letter dated July 29.
His allegation surfaced as the Islamic republic continues to battle a damaging political crisis triggered by the June 12 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which the opposition claims was rigged.
Mr Larijani issued a stern warning over the rape claims.
'This is also a warning to politicians to take care and not to make any claims to the media before a proper investigation is done so that it is not exploited by foreigners,' he said.
But a leading pro-opposition organisation, the Organisation of Islamic Revolution Mujahedeen, reiterated the allegation later, comparing the treatment of prisoners in Kahrizak to that in Iraq's notorious formerly US-run Abu Ghraib prison.
'Any measures to probe the violations committed in the past two months, and above all in the Abu Ghraib of Kahrizak, will be incomplete and will not allay concerns if one does not hold to account Interior Minister (Sadeq Mahsooli) and the president as the main officials responsible,' it said. -- AFP
