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Iran Confirms Ahmadinejad Win After Partial Vote Recount

Tehran, Iran (RPRN) 6/29/2009--Iranian officials have again declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner of the nation's disputed presidential election. The powerful group that supervises Iran's elections, the Guardian Council, conducted a partial recount Monday of 10 percent of random ballot boxes nationwide.

According to Iranian state media, the Council said the recount confirms the official results from the June 12 vote, and the body dismissed all the election complaints it received.

Earlier in the day, the Council said its members met with defeated reformist challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi, but that the meeting was "ineffective."

Mr. Mousavi previously rejected the partial recount and insisted that the results of the election be annulled.

In other news, Iran says it has released five Iranian staffers of the British embassy in Tehran, days after nine were detained for alleged links to the nation's post-election unrest.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Monday condemned the detentions, saying they are "unacceptable, unjustified and without foundation."

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Qashqavi told a news conference Monday that four staffers of the British embassy still are being held for questioning.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Monday called for their release and said the United States is watching the situation.

A report Sunday quoted the nation's intelligence minister, Qolam Hosein Mohseni-Ejei, as saying he has proof that some of the local staffers collected news about the recent protests.

Iranian state media also report Mr. Ahmadinejad has ordered a probe into the death of a young woman named Neda Agha-Soltan, who was shot dead in Tehran's post-election protests.

The widely viewed amateur video of her death has circulated on the Internet and international news broadcasts, and her name has become a rallying cry among demonstrators.

In a letter to Iran's judiciary chief, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi, Monday, Mr. Ahmadinejad called her death "completely suspicious" and referred to "vast propaganda by foreign media."

Iranian officials say 17 people were killed in post-election violence, but witnesses say the toll is much higher.

Photo credit: File

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