Iran reformists condemn pollsters' trial

The main Iranian reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, has dismissed as theatre the trial which opened this week of three opinion pollsters who carried out surveys of Iranian attitudes to the United States.

The Participation Front condemned the conservative court's indictment as a declaration against all free and independent researchers.

The trio were arrested and charged by the hardline judiciary after reporting that 70% of those surveyed were in favour of Iran restoring relations with the United States.

The pollsters are accused of gathering and selling information to foreign powers.

Abbas Abdi, a leading figure in Iran's reformist movement and advocate of dialogue with the US, is amongst the defendants.

The BBC Teheran correspondent says Mr Abdi's arrest stirred deep anger among his fellow reformists.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service