The United Nations voiced deep concern yesterday over what it said was a climate of fear in Venezuela following the country's disputed presidential election results.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk said he was troubled by the high and continuing number of arbitrary detentions, as well as disproportionate use of force.

"It is especially troubling so many people are being detained, accused or charged either with incitement to hatred or under counterterrorism legislation. Criminal law must never be used to limit unduly the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association," he said.

President Nicolas Maduro called Monday for the state to use an "iron fist" after deadly protests in response to his re-election, dismissed at home and abroad as a sham.

As the official protest death toll rose to 25, Maduro urged "severe justice" for violence he blames on the opposition, which insists its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won the July 28 vote by a landslide.

Turk's office said that according to official statements, more than 2,400 people have been arrested since July 29.

The figure includes the arbitrary detention of protesters, human rights defenders, adolescents, the handicapped, opposition members or those perceived to be connected to them, as well as people who served as electoral observers accredited by opposition parties in polling stations.

Some of these cases would amount to enforced disappearances.

"I call for the immediate release of everyone who has been arbitrarily detained, and for fair trial guarantees," said Turk. "The disproportionate use of force by law enforcement officials and the attacks on demonstrators by armed individuals supporting the government, some resulting in deaths, must not be repeated."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Nicolas Maduro

UN slams Maduro's push for 'iron fist'