"A candidate who had won less than one percent of the entire votes [alluding to Mahdi Karroubi, former Parliament Speaker] could gain the initiative and through raising radical political questions took the upper hand," the government backer MP told Khabar Online correspondent. 

"Those reformist political figures including Messrs. Mohammad Ali Abtahi, Saeed Hajarian and Abdol-Reza Tajik who bravely confessed to their faults did a very remarkable job and helped the society to recover its trust to the government. There are simply a few people who can admit their mistakes," he said. 

Abtahi, the chief of staff of former president Mohammad Khatami and a supporter of Mahdi Karrubi in the elections; Hajarian, a senior adviser to reformists and Tajik, a journalist were among the reformist figures who were arrested and detained after the disputed presidential vote on June 12. Their confessions at trials, saying the election was healthy were later released and aired from the state TV.

The leading reformist figures including former presidential candidates, Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi claimed that the confessions were extracted from the detainees by force in jail.