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Reporters Sans Frontieres activists take part in a protest in front of an Iran Air agency in Paris in July to denounce journalists' imprisonment in Iran/AFP

World

Iran launches probe into prison death of blogger

Washington said it was “appalled by reports” that the blogger was “tortured and killed” while in prison.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Beheshti was “arrested for a crime no greater than expressing his political opinion online.”

A French foreign ministry spokesman said Paris was “profoundly shocked” to have learned of Beheshti’s death in custody. “We call on the Iranian authorities to shed as much light as possible on the circumstances of his death,” he said.

Outspoken conservative MP Ahmad Tavakoli joined in the criticism on Sunday, Mehr news agency reported.

“Why doesn’t the judicial apparatus give explanations? There has been a death and it must be explained,” he said, charging that foreign governments were exploiting the case for propaganda purposes against Iran.

Tavakoli also criticised the regime’s repression of bloggers, saying they would do better “to fight against corruption rather than making life difficult for bloggers.”

Hundreds of opposition figures – politicians, journalists, bloggers, lawyers, rights activities, union figures and media workers – are being held in Iran, according to international human rights groups.

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