Call to punish Iran election protesters

The body that supervised the vote in Iran last month has no ruled out any further legal appeal and said those alleging fraud should be prosecuted.

"Based on Iran's Constitution, the Guardian Council is the top legislative body to review complaints over the election. The council members have unanimously approved the election result," its spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodai told a news conference yesterday.

"The case of the 10th presidential election is closed," he said, a day after the council dismissed complaints raised by two defeated candidates, Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi.

Mr Kadkhodai urged the judiciary to take legal action against those who "spread rumours about election-rigging". The June 12 poll sparked Iran's most vigorous internal unrest since the 1979 Islamic revolution, but hardliners have regained the upper hand in the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, whose nuclear programme has alarmed the West.

Meanwhile, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday hailed his disputed re-election as a victory for the Iranian people and a defeat for the Islamic Republic's enemies.

"This election was actually a referendum. The Iranian nation were the victors and the enemies, despite their... plots of a soft toppling of the system, failed and couldn't reach their aims," the state Irna news agency quoted Mr Ahmadinejad as saying.

Iran often accuses the West of seeking to promote a "velvet revolution" to overthrow its 30-year-old Islamic system.