140 demonstrators freed in Iran

TEHRAN, July 28 (UPI) -- About 140 Iranian demonstrators were freed from one prison Tuesday and officials said Iran's supreme leader has ordered a second prison closed.

The BBC reported the detainees released from Evin were protesters locked up after last month's disputed election results. About 200 others, facing more serious crimes, remain incarcerated there, the British network said.

Iran's state-supported Press TV reported Tuesday the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued the decree to close the Kahrizak detention facility on the outskirts of Tehran through Saeed Jalili, the head of Iran's National Security Council. The order came as concern mounted about the treatment of protesters detained there.

"In the course of recent events, the leader has ordered officials (to take measures), so that no one, God forbid, suffers injustice," the broadcaster quoted Jalili as saying.

Officials also upped the death toll of clashes between opposition supporters and police from 20 to 30, the BBC said.

Detainees taken into custody during massive street demonstrations protesting the results of the country's June presidential election have been held by captors operating under the authority of the powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps, The Washington Post reported.

The Mehr News Agency had reported Monday that Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, Iran's chief judicial officer, had ordered the Tehran prosecutor to either charge or release arrested protesters.

The Post said Iranian politicians are concerned the Basij militia, commanded by the Revolutionary Guard, has taken over the handling of detained protesters, circumventing Iran's traditional justice system.