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Iran forces arrest hundreds in post-election protests

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Iranian forces arrested 457 people Saturday for protesting the recent presidential election, according to state media on Monday. According to reports, at least ten people were killed in the weekend's protests. Also Monday, Iran's Guardian Council of the Constitution spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei said that the number of votes in approximately 50 constituencies exceeded the number of eligible voters but maintained that such a discrepancy could arise out of voters' ability to vote anywhere in the country. Reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who lost the election to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, urged people to continue their peaceful protests without being intimidated. Mousavi claims that more votes were counted than eligible voters in 170 out of 45,713 constituencies. Last week, Iran's spiritual leader and highest authority Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who previously ordered an investigation into alleged voter fraud, called for an end to further demonstrations and maintained that the election was not manipulated. World leaders and human rights groups have viewed the arrests as political repression, saying that Iranian forces are using the protests to "engage in what appears to be a major purge of reform-oriented individuals." Calling for authorities to respect and nurture debate, Amnesty International stressed Thursday that "healthy debate on issues of fundamental importance to peoples' lives" informs, rather than threatens, policy makers." Following the Ayatollah's ordered investigation, the Guardian Council of the Constitution said Tuesday that it would conduct a partial recount of the disputed election results.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on June 22, 2009 (boomark / email).