Senior Iran reformer freed on bail - report

Sun, Nov 1 11:40 AM

An adviser to pro-reform Iranian cleric Mehdi Karoubi has been freed on bail, media reported on Sunday, almost eight weeks after he was detained.

Iranian newspapers quoted a judiciary source as saying Morteza Alviri, a former Tehran mayor and ambassador to Spain, had been released.

No details were given of the bail amount imposed on the senior adviser to Karoubi, who came fourth in Iran's June presidential election that the opposition says was rigged.

A reformist website reported on Sept 8 that agents raided and searched Alviri's home and took him away.

Thousands of people were arrested after the disputed vote, which sparked huge opposition protests.

Most of them have since been released but more than 100 senior reformers, activists, journalists and others have been put on trial, accused of fomenting street unrest. The opposition has denounced the court sessions as "show trials",

Several of the accused have received jail sentences and three have been sentenced to death, according to Iranian media. Under Iranian law, the verdicts can be appealed against.

The authorities have portrayed the post-election street demonstrations as a foreign-backed bid to undermine the Islamic Republic. They reject charges of vote-rigging, describing the election as the country's "healthiest" for three decades.

(Reporting by Hossein Jaseb; writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Ralph Gowling)

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