Washington, June 27 (IANS) Iran has shut down opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi’s website that was the only source for US officials to monitor events in the Islamic country, according to a media report Saturday.
State Department officials, who have been monitoring events in Iran from Dubai via Mousavi’s website “Kalemah”, said the website - the opposition leader’s last link to the outside world - was completely shut down, the Fox News reported

The officials also noted reports on Iranian websites alleging that Mousavi’s supporters, who have been in jailed for anti-government protests, were being tortured in a bid to force them into “confessions” on TV that the demonstrations were part of a foreign plot against the Islamic regime, the report said.

It also cited a report by Iranian newspaper with close ties with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps that called on the country’s justice minister to prosecute Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi for allegedly violating Islamic and constitutional law through her human rights advocacy.

There were also reports that the authorities were planning to recount only 10 percent of the ballots in presence of the media and the Guardian Council’s post-election committee to show that there was no electoral fraud.

Since the June 12 presidential election reults, which saw incumbent president Mahmoud Ahamadinejad retaining power with a landslide victory, were out Mausavi’s supporters took to streets in thousands to protest the alleged electoral fraud.

Iranian authorities have used a combination of warnings, arrests and the threat of police action over the last week to drive mass rallies off Tehran’s street with smaller gatherings dispersed with tear gas and baton charges.

According to state media, at least 20 people have lost their lives in the violence.