Lawyers of some Iranian detainees have yet to see their clients

Jul 4, 2009, 13:34 GMT

Tehran - Lawyers representing some of the more prominent people detained after Iran's disputed June 12 presidential election on Saturday said they had not yet been able to meet with their clients.

Saleh Nikbakht, who has been appointed to defend Newsweek correspondent Maziar Bahari said he had yet to pay a visit to him in prison.

Bahari was arrested in the aftermath of the poll that sparked widespread protest. The government has accused Bahari of having breached national security, according to Nikbakht. The journalist is expected to be tried in the revolutionary court which is in charge for such security offences.

Nikbakht described Bahari as an experienced and renowned documentary maker who had definitely not violated professional ethics.

Nikbakht is also representing former government officials who were detained following the protests over alleged fraud in the election, including Mohammad-Ali Abtahi, the deputy of former president Mohammad Khatami.

Abol-Samad Khoramshahi, the lawyer appointed to defend a detained Iranian employee of the British embassy, meanwhile also said that he neither met his client nor seen the charges against him.

Khoramshahi identified the detainee as Hossein Rassam, a senior political analyst at the embassy who has a journalistic background.

Rassam previously worked as an analyst for the Japanese embassy in Tehran and is widely known within diplomatic and journalistic circles as an expert on Iranian politics.

According to police reports, more than 1,000 people, including former officials, dissidents, journalists and demonstrators, have been arrested in recent weeks. Most have since been released.