Nearly one third of the deputies in the Iranian parliament have called on the management of the state-run Iranian television to apologise to the people and the President for airing a programme connected to the recent killings.

The group of independent deputies, the Hizbollah assembly said in a statement that the programme Cheragh on Monday had featured a senior hardline cleric Hojatoleslam Ruhollah Husseinian who attributed the recent killings of writers to supporters of the reformist President, Mohammed Khatami.

It said the broadcast was another stage of sabotage and conspiracy against the President.

The conservative-controlled Intelligence ministry has already admitted its agents were involved in the killings.