Mousavi's Daughters Arrested--Iran

Then Released!

By: Jabbar Fazeli, MD

Two daughters of the Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi have been arrested after security forces raided their homes in the capital, Tehran.(1)

This comes as part of a wider security crack down in preparation for the presidential elections due in June of this year. The recent arrests spree included journalists and tighter control of the media.

A prominent conservative member of the parliament, Ali Motahari, has admitted that the recent arrests of journalists was related to the upcoming elections.

UPDATE:
ILNA reports that the Mousavi daughters have been released after a few hours of questioning.(3,4)

References:
(1) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21409666
(2) http://irnanews.ir/?p=19813
(3)http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/daughters-of-irans-opposition-leader-returned-home-after-brief-summons-by-prosecutors/2013/02/11/f2ba6882-7464-11e2-9889-60bfcbb02149_story.html
(4) http://ilna.ir/news/news.cfm?id=46042

Photo credit: Globalpost.com

Iran Foreign Minister Briefly Arrested in Cyprus

Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi was arrested and handcuffed Wednesday afternoon after he arrived at Nicosia International Airport. A Cypriot special police unit made the arrest for Salehi’s violation of a EU ban on travels by Iranian officials involved in the country’s nuclear program. But the Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kozaku Markulli intervened and Mr. Salehi was later released. 

Mr. Salehi was a former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran when he was added to the list of “unwanted persons,” but his name was taken out in 2010 when he became Iran’s foreign minister. Cyprus has issued an official apology to Iran, citing “misunderstanding” and “mishandling” of the situation by airport police. 

Iran Announces Al Qaeda Arrests

Iranian authorities have announced the arrest of seven alleged Al Qaeda members in in the city of Sardasht in Iran’s northwestern province of West Azerbaijan.

"The group was propagating Wahabism. They were trying to divide the Shiites and the Sunnis," Press TV quoted the authorities as describing the group's alleged activities.

It was not immediately clear whether the detainees were Iranian citizens or foreign national. No date of the arrests was also given. Very rarely has Iran announced the arrests of Al Qaeda members, although several of their leaders fled to Iran when the US forces invaded Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Wave of Arrests in Tehran

Reports from Tehran indicate that Mir Hossein Mousavi, the presumed real winner of the presidential election, and Mehdi Karrubi, also a presidential candidate, are under house arrest. Gholamhossein Karbaschi, former Tehran’s mayor and Karrubi’s campaign manager, was earlier reported to be under house arrest.

The leadership of pro-reform Mosharekat Party, including its leader Mohammad Reza Khatami, the brother of the former president, and his wife, Zahra Esraghi have been arrested. Also arrested are Mosharekat’s secretary general, Mohsen Mirdamadi, and a score of its activists.

UPDATE: Mousavi and Karrubi are not under house arrest. Today, Mousavi filed a formal complained with the Guardian Council, asking the election oversight body to annul the results of the election, forcing a new election [14 June 2009].