A court in Tehran has summoned Iran's vice president for women's affairs for "spreading false information", a judiciary spokesman said Sunday, following her comments about a series of alleged executions.
Shahindokht Molaverdi reportedly said that all the men in a village in Sistan-Baluchistan, a southeastern province bordering Pakistan, had been executed for drug crimes.
Her comments apparently came on February 4 during a discussion about the need to support families of those criminals who were killed, according to Mehr, an Iranian news agency.
Molaverdi was quoted as saying that the survivors were potential smugglers.
However, provincial judiciary officials denied Molaverdi's allegations over the executions.
The officials sent an indictment request to the capital Tehran, which has the authority to trial a vice president, according to the judiciary news service Mizan, which led to the summons.
Molaverdi's claims "have no basis in truth and are in some way spreading false information and defamation against the province's judiciary system," Mohammad Ali Hamidian, a senior judiciary official in Sistan-Baluchistan said in early March, according to Mizan.
"Ms. Molaverdi has been officially ordered to appear in the court," Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejeie, the judiciary spokesman and deputy chief, Sunday told reporters in his weekly press conference.
Molaverdi is one of President Hassan Rouhani's three female deputies and is known for her stance on defending the right of women to attend male sport events.
Iran has several vice presidents responsible for a range of affairs.
The order comes despite a statement from Molaverdi's office on April 3, in which she denied committing defamation.
"There was no intent to undermine the reputation of a certain province or any aim to spread false information against a certain power, or to provide fodder to foreign media giving an excuse to open human rights cases and increase sanctions," the statement said, according to official IRNA news agency.
