Three Iranian prison officials have been charged with killing imprisoned protesters arrested in the aftermath of the June presidential election, local media reported.

A court's statement, published by the ISNA news agency, said the officials of Tehran's Kahrizak prison originally claimed that Mohsen Rouhol-Amini, Amir Javadifar, and Mohammad Kamrani died of meningitis.

"The coroner rejected that these people died of meningitis and confirmed there were bruises on their bodies from beatings and that the cause of death was a series of beatings," the statement said.

Some two dozen prison officials were brought to trial, Fars news agency said. However, it said, there was enough evidence to prosecute only 12 of the suspects.

Some 4,000 people were reportedly arrested over staging protests against the results of June 12 presidential election, won by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The three dead were among 150 demonstrators taken to the Kahrizak prison.

MOSCOW, December 20 (RIA Novosti)