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Ally of Iran's Mousavi detained: reformist website

Iran Materials 11 September 2009 13:19 (UTC +04:00)
An ally of Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi has been detained, a reformist website said on Friday, the third pro-reform opponent of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to be held within the past week.
Ally of Iran's Mousavi detained: reformist website

An ally of Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi has been detained, a reformist website said on Friday, the third pro-reform opponent of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to be held within the past week, Reuters reported.

The Etemad-e Melli website said Mohammad Ozlati-Moghaddam, a member of Mousavi's campaign headquarters staff ahead of the disputed June election, was detained in his home earlier this week after it was searched.

It did not give a source for the report and there was no immediate comment from Iranian officials.

Reformist websites reported the detentions of senior reformers Alireza Hosseini Beheshti and Morteza Alviri on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Mousavi urged his supporters not to be provoked by the detentions, saying they were a "sign of more horrendous events to come."

Mousavi and pro-reform cleric Mehdi Karoubi, who finished second and fourth respectively in the vote, say the poll was rigged to secure Ahmadinejad's re-election. The authorities deny the charge.

The hard-line president shored up his position last week when parliament approved most of his new ministers, after almost three months of political turmoil in the major oil exporter.

Karoubi, whose newspaper was closed down three weeks ago, angered hardliners in August by saying some jailed protesters were raped and abused in jail. Authorities denied it, while the judiciary and parliament have agreed to look into the issue.

The Etemad-e Melli website is the Internet site of Karoubi's party.

The election and its turbulent aftermath plunged Iran into deep internal crisis. Rights groups say thousands of people, including senior pro-reform figures, were arrested after the poll, though most have been freed.

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