Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered the closure of a jail holding protesters detained after last month's poll as part of measures to curb abuse, a top official said Tuesday.
His decision comes amid attempts on part of some Iranian MPs to limit the autonomy of four vice presidents in Iran, following a row with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over his choice of a first deputy.
"The supreme leader has issued a strict order to ensure there is no injustice committed against anyone in the aftermath of the recent events," said the secretary of Iran's National Security Council, Saeed Jalili.
"As an example, he has ordered the closure of a detention center which was not up to required standards," he said in a statement carried on state-run Press TV.
Kazem Jalali, an MP and member of a panel set up by parliament to investigate the situation of prisoners, said Kahrizak detention center, south of Tehran, had been ordered to close.
The panel members are to visit Tehran's notorious Evin prison to check on conditions for detained protesters, he added, quoted by Mehr news agency.
A total of up to 2,200 protesters, political activists and journalists were detained but most have since been released, according to official reports.
Around 320 protesters arrested during the demonstrations following President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's hotly disputed re-election on June 12 are still in detention.
Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, an Islamic conservative, called for the detainees to be freed to prevent any rights violations.
"The detainees, especially students and academics, should be treated with justice and Islamic compassion, and if there are cases which could be ignored (forgiven), they should be freed as much as possible to prevent exploitation," Larijani said, quoted by the ILNA news agency.
New bill
Also on Tuesday, Mehr news agency reported that MPs have drawn up a bill limiting the autonomy of four vice presidents in Iran, after a row Ahmadinejad over his choice of a first deputy.
Under the bill designed to allow parliamentary supervision, the four posts which hold cabinet rank would become ministries, it said.
"The MPs behind the bill believe that by turning these vice presidential portfolios to ministries they would be accountable to the parliament representatives," the agency said.
"Out of 213 MPs present, 117 voted that the bill be discussed as a priority."
The posts targeted are the vice presidents who head the Physical Education Organization, Tourism and Cultural Heritage Organization, Martyrs' Foundation and the National Youth Organization.
The latter would be integrated into a planned sports ministry, reducing the posts to three slots, Mehr said.
The move came after a political crisis over Ahmadinejad's appointment of a controversial aide, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, as first vice president in the face of strong opposition even from his own hardline camp.
Ahmadinejad refused to budge until Khamenei ordered him to revoke the appointment, but Rahim Mashaie was kept on as the president's advisor and chief of staff.
Mashaie, an Ahmadinejad confidant who headed the Tourism Organization over the past four years, drew the ire of conservatives in the Islamic republic by saying two years ago that Iran was a "friend of the Israeli people."
Unlike ministers, Iran's vice presidents are not subject to a vote of confidence or impeachment by parliament. Under the constitution, the president can have as many VPs as he sees fit, with the current number set at 11.