Iran opposition claims jailed protesters raped

An Iranian opposition leader has claimed that women and boys detained over the wave of unrest that swept the nation after the disputed presidential election have been savagely raped in custody.

The allegations by presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi surfaced as Iran hit back at Western criticism of its mass trials of protesters, including British and French embassy staff.

"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 to powerful cleric and ex-President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

"Mr Karroubi made the allegations in a letter to Mr Rafsanjani in his capacity as head of the Assembly of Experts, the powerful body which selects the supreme leader and supervises his activities.

Mr Karroubi, a reformist former parliamentary speaker who came a distant fourth in the June 12 election that returned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power, has previously alleged that protesters were being abused and beaten in custody.

About 2,000 opposition supporters were arrested in the aftermath of Mr Ahmadinejad's disputed victory. Most have been released, but around 200 remain behind bars. At least 110 have also been put on trial.

Mr Karroubi urged Mr Rafsanjani to take up the issue with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying the "clergy and the Islamic republic will be held responsible" for such acts.

The crackdowns have outraged the international community as Iran continues to battle its worst crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution, with deep rifts between the country's clerical groups and the ruling elite.

But Tehran hit back yesterday after Western governments condemned what they called "show trials". Hardline Iranian cleric Ahmad Khatami urged Tehran to take a "crushing and confronting" line with Britain, while another cleric Ahmad Salek said the British embassy had become "America's and the Zionist regime's den of spies".

Foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi described the Western criticism as "illegal and surprising," and said the court testimony by embassy employees was proof of "foreign intervention in Iran's domestic affairs".

Those on trial include French woman lecturer Clotilde Reiss, British embassy analyst Hossein Rassam and French embassy employee Nazak Afshar.

Mr Ghashghavi said the court testimony given by Mr Rassam on Saturday, who has now been charged with spying, was not made under pressure.

Mr Rassam, one of a total of nine local British embassy staff initially detained, said he had been instructed to monitor the protests for the British government.

Mr Ghashghavi also criticised the actions of Ms Reiss, who admitted to taking part in protests in Tehran and taking photographs and video footage, according to local media reports.

France said President Nicolas Sarkozy has made securing her release his "top priority".

The US envoy to the United Nations Susan Rice said on Sunday the "show trials" were "clearly a demonstration of the fact that the Iranian leadership is not reconciled to the concerns of its people regarding the validity of the elections."Mr Rafsanjani himself withdrew from leading this week's Friday prayers in Tehran - which since the election have become a forum for political grandstanding - to prevent "political abuse" of the event, an official said.

On Sunday, the head of the Revolutionary Guards' political bureau called for Mr Karroubi, fellow election challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mr Ahmadinejad's predecessor Mohammad Khatami to go on trial for plotting a "velvet coup".