Iran speaker says ready to study rape allegations

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's parliamentary speaker said on Thursday he was ready to consider any documents submitted by pro-reform cleric Mehdi Karoubi to support his allegations that some imprisoned reformist protesters have been raped, the IRNA news agency reported.

Ali Larijani made the comment a day after Karoubi asked to meet top officials including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to present evidence of the alleged abuse of detainees following protests after June's disputed election.

Karoubi made the request in a letter to Larijani.

Karoubi, who came fourth in the vote, has come under fire from hardliners for making the allegation, which the authorities have rejected as "baseless."

"He can pursue these issues and we are prepared to consider their documents and proofs," IRNA quoted Larijani as saying.

"We have no interest in keeping any part of this issue concealed from the public."

But he parliament's own committee of investigation into post-election events had "not come across the issues that Mr Karoubi raised."

Some hardliners have called for Karoubi to be arrested or tried if he fails to prove his allegations. Last week, he said some of those arrested had been killed under torture.

Opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi, who came second in the vote, on Tuesday lent support to Karoubi and accused "establishment agents" of raping and abusing detainees, according to the reformist website www.mowjcamp.com .

Mousavi and Karoubi say the election was rigged to secure the re-election of the hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, something Ahmadinejad and his allies, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, deny.

Iran arrested thousands of people in the post-election protests, its worst street unrest since the Islamic revolution in 1979.

At least 200 people remain in jail, including senior moderate politicians, activists, lawyers and journalists. Iran has this month begun three mass trials of reformist activists and protesters, including a former vice-president and former ministers.

The poll and its turbulent aftermath have plunged Iran into its biggest internal crisis since the revolution, exposing deepening divisions within its ruling elite and also further straining relations with the West.

(Editing by Kevin Liffey)