An Iranian police statement released to the press on Thursday confirmed that serious violations took place at the detention center in southern Tehran following the June 12 presidential election, the satellite Press TV reported.

"Following investigations and interviewing detainees, the dereliction of duty and breaches by a number of the center's managers, officers and staff has become manifest," the report quoted the statement as saying.

The statement did not provide the identities, ranks or numbers of those authorities involved in the issue. But it indicated that punitive measures are under way for those who neglected the detainees and those whose acts amounted to "dereliction of duty," Press TV said.

On Tuesday, Iran's highest (Supreme) National Security Council said that the officials involved in violation of civil rights in the detention center south of Tehran will be prosecuted.

Last week, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei ordered Tehran's Kahrizak detention center to be closed. The issue became a source of controversy when two of its detainees later died in a hospital.

Protests gripped Tehran and other Iranian cities after the June 12 presidential election, amid claims that the vote had been rigged in favor of the incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran's state media said at least 20 people had been killed in relevant clashes, including some in custody.

More than 1,000 protestors and dozens of reformist activists were reportedly arrested in the wake of the disputed election. The authorities said that most of them have been released.

(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2009)