Tehran - The trial of Iranian dissidents was set to continue Sunday, while at least 12 police officials and a judge face charges of mishandling political prisoners, the labour news agency ILNA reported Saturday.

The third hearing of 25 more dissidents will be held Sunday morning in Tehran's revolutionary court, a judiciary statement said. It did not clarify who the 25 would be.

According to official statistics, some 110 dissidents remain jailed - while the opposition claims double that - following protests against alleged fraud in the June 12 presidential election after which more than 4,000 protestors were arrested.

The majority were later released. Those still detained include employees of the British and French embassies in Tehran, accused of involvement in spying and demonstrations which followed the re- election of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Among the defendants was French lecturer Clothilde Reiss, arrested last month on charges of espionage, and Iranian Hossein Rassam, chief political analyst at the British embassy, also accused of spying. The two are also alleged to have been involved in the "illegal" post- election protests. Reiss is expected to be soon freed on bail.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was meanwhile reported to have accepted a mediation role between Tehran and Paris to enable the release of the French lecturer. He is to visit Tehran next week, local newspapers reported.

Former reformist officials, including ex-ministers and parliament deputies, are charged with planning to topple the Islamic system through a "velvet" revolution.

Opposition leaders Mir-Hossein Moussavi, Mehdi Karrubi and former president Mohammad Khatami have dismissed the two court sessions so far as "show-trials" which have only discredited the image of Iran before the world.

ILNA meanwhile quoted a spokesman of the parliament's security commission as saying that at least 12 police officials and a judge would be tried for mishandling the case of several dissidents.

MP Parviz Sorouri said that some of the arrested dissidents had been transferred to the Kahrizak prison in southern Tehran, even though that prison was only for drug traffickers.

Sorouri said the 12 police officials and a judge in charge of transferring prisoners to Kahrizak prison would be tried and eventually be dismissed from their posts.

There have been reports - some already officially confirmed - that some detained dissidents were tortured in the notorious Kahrizak prison, also known as "Tehran's Guantanamo," and some had even died in mysterious circumstances.(dpa)