Clerics defy election ruling (1)

A group of clerics in Iran has called Iran’s presidential vote invalid, contradicting official results.

The pro-reform group’s statement pits it against the top legislative body, which last week formally endorsed the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

On Saturday, former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, said that post-election events had caused bitterness.

Britain said one of two UK embassy employees detained for “inciting protests” would be released.

The pro-reform group said in a statement that the top legislative body, the Guardian Council, no longer had the right “to judge in this case.”

In a statement to the press, the Assembly of Qom Seminary Scholars and Researchers said some members of the Guardian Council had “lost their impartial image in the eyes of the public.”

“How can one accept the legitimacy of the election just because the Guardian Council says so? Can one say that the government born out of the infringements is a legitimate one,” it said.

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Updates:

4:37 pm EDT, July 5th, 2009 — Iranian Clerics Declare Ahmadinejed Re-Election Illegitimate