Iran dissident murdered in jail

From the Straits Time, via the AFP:

A YOUNG Iranian man arrested in protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election has died after over a week in custody, two reformist newspapers reported on Saturday.

'Mohsen Ruholamini, arrested in July 9 gatherings ... was killed,' Etemad newspaper reported, quoting a pro-opposition website.

The newspaper did not elaborate on what actually caused Ruholamini's death in detention.

The Etemad Melli newspaper meanwhile said his family 'was informed of their son's martyrdom three nights ago and was asked to turn up for the body to be handed over.' Reports said the 25-year-old man's father Abdolhossein Ruholamini was a top advisor to the campaign of defeated conservative presidential candidate Mohsen Rezai, a former head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.

The candidate offered condolences to the Ruholamini family on their son's 'unexpected death", Tabnak, a news website close to Rezai, reported.

Iranian official reports say at least 20 people died and more than 1,000 were arrested in protests sparked by Ahmadinejad's June 12 re-election, which the opposition say was rigged.

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians poured into Tehran streets to protest about their 'stolen votes' before a crackdown by security forces following an order by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who on June 19 called for an end to rallies and expressed his backing for the president.

Protests continued on a much smaller scale, though thousands took to the streets on July 9 on the anniversary of a bloody student uprising in 1999....

Read more here.