By: (AP) Iran's president called Sunday for an investigation into journalists' allegations they were tortured into confessing to charges such as insulting sacred beliefs and endangering national security after publishing articles critical of conservatives in the government.
About 20 journalists from print, Internet, and other media outlets have been detained in Iran since a crackdown on the pro-reform press was launched in September. Several of those journalists told a presidential commission last month that they were tortured.
President Mohammad Khatami said Sunday he would meet with the head of the country's judiciary about the allegations.
"It's deplorable even if 10 percent of what the Web bloggers allege is true," Khatami said, referring to the writers who kept online journals, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency. "It's against the dignity of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It has to be probed."
Several detainees, some of whom were barred from meeting their attorneys, confessed to charges that included spreading propaganda against the regime and inciting public unrest.
"Confessions were extracted from us under physical and psychological pressures in prison. Apparently we were released but threats against us and even our families have been continued," said Hanif Mazroui, one of the detained bloggers.
The Iranian hard-line judiciary summoned at least two journalists, Omid Memarian and Rouzbeh Mirebrahi, on Sunday, a day after it threatened legal action against those claiming that detained journalists were abused to extract confessions.
"Both of them told the court today that what they wrote and said in prison was under duress," Mazroui said.
It was unclear what type of legal proceeding took place.
A judiciary statement published Sunday in the official Iran daily said four unidentified journalists wrote letters of repentance and admitted to their mistakes after being confronted with proof of their criminal actions.
"I would probe the case up to the end while I hope nobody could misuse his position and authority," the reformist Khatami said when asked about the possible reaction of the hard-line judiciary to his remarks.
On Friday, the group Human Rights Watch said it was "extremely concerned" about the safety of local journalists who have received death threats from judicial officials since their testimony alleging torture.
The torture allegations first publicly emerged last month on the personal Web site of Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a journalist who also testified to the commission.
A press crackdown in 2000 led to the closure of more than 100 newspapers and the arrests and prosecution of several journalists.
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