Iranian ministers face questions over PMOI

TEHRAN, July 8 (UPI) -- Iranian lawmakers have summoned top ministers to answer questions about the alleged role of exiled Iranian dissidents in the post-election violence.

Protests over the results of the June 12 elections that secured a second term for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad turned violent in the days following the disputed outcome.

Iranian authorities acknowledged at least a dozen protesters were killed in the violence, with unverified amateur video depicting forces thought to the Basij paramilitary unit beating demonstrators in the streets.

Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsuli in June said the violence in Iran was funded by the U.S. intelligence community and the People's Mujahedin of Iran, an exiled opposition group.

Representatives from the PMOI deny any ties to the CIA and the claims it was behind the post-election violence.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran, a Paris-based umbrella organization representing Iranian dissident groups including the PMOI, said several lawmakers in the Iranian Parliament summoned the judicial and intelligence ministers to answer questions about the PMOI allegations.

NCRI leader Maryam Rajavi in a letter to the U.N. Security Council called for new elections in Iran and new, sweeping sanctions on Tehran. In a written statement, the NCRI said the allegations against the PMOI were "bogus."