Iranian labour minister faces impeachment

Iranian lawmakers have approved a petition to impeach the country's labour minister over his controversial appointment of an official implicated in the deaths of prisoners in custody. The development is part of a complicated power struggle between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his conservative rivals in parliament. The parliament on Wednesday acted on a petition signed by 20 lawmakers. The confidence vote for labour minister, Abdolreza Sheikholeslami, could take place within 10 days. The lawmakers are angry over the minister's recent appointment of Saeed Mortazavi as head of Iran's social security organisation. A parliamentary probe in 2010 found Mortazavi, then chief Tehran prosecutor, responsible for the deaths by torture of at least three anti-government protesters.