Iranian media report the nation's judiciary chief has ordered officialsto quickly decide the fate of protesters detained in the wake of lastmonth's disputed presidential election.
Judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said Judiciary Chief Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi saidofficials must decide within a week whether to keep detainees in jailor release them.
The spokesman said 300 protesters remain indetention from the massive street protests that stemmed from the June12 re-election victory for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Thepolitical opposition alleges fraud, but Iranian authorities say thevote was fair.
Also, Human Rights Watch has accusedIranian authorities of continuing to arrest and harass human rightslawyers in an attempt to prevent them from representing politicalprisoners.
The organization released a statement Sunday based on reports from Iranian attorneys and detainees' family members.
Inother news, Iran's state-run television reports that a senior Iranianprison official has said meningitis is to blame for the deaths of twomen detained in the post-election crackdown. The deceased have been identified as Mohammad Karami and Mohsen Ruholamini.
Press TV,citing the semi-official ISNA, quotes Sohrab Soleimani, general director of prisonsin the central province of Tehran, as saying the18-year-old and 25-year-old detainees were sick before they arrived atEvin prison.
Meningitis is a potentially fatal disease spread bybacteria transmitted from person to person through respiratory orthroat secretions. It is highly contagious.