Iran Frees Some UK Embassy Workers as Minor Recount Begins

by Rob Walker | June 29, 2009 at 05:23 am

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Iran released five out of nine local staffers of the UK embassy in Tehran on Monday, while the government began a small recount of votes. Opposition members are calling for a complete annulment of the election results.

The nine local UK embassy workers were detained in their alleged role in the protests that have rocked Iran since the June election. UK Foreign secretary David Milibrand dismissed the accusations as baseless.

Thousands of protesters clashed with police and militia on Sunday, where the police used tear gas and batons to disperse the crowd.

Iran's media earlier said local employees at the UK mission were held over their role in protests against June's disputed presidential election.

“The British Embassy played a crucial role in the recent unrest both through its local staff and via media,” Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei said, state- run Press TV reported. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said today five of the nine Iranian employees of the embassy detained have been freed, IRNA state news service reported.

In a sign that the process would not put into question Ahmadinejad's victory, IRNA news agency said recounting so far in one Tehran district gave him more votes than in the June 12 poll that unleashed the worst unrest since the 1979 revolution.

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