Iranian reformer: Respect personal rights

A leading Iranian reformer, Mohammed-Reza Khatami, has told the new parliament that the rights of the Iranian people as laid down in the constitution have not been respected.

Mr Khatami, who is the brother of President Khatami, said he regretted that the right to privacy hadn't been observed in the past.

He said the abolition of censorship and torture, freedom of the press and of expression, a ban on arbitrary arrests and personal liberty were among the rights which deputies had to uphold.

In April, Mohammed Reza Khatami, appeared before the powerful press court in Tehran to answer charges of libel and defamation brought against the pro-reform newspaper Mosharekat which he publishes.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service