AGL 38.16 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.16%)
AIRLINK 134.19 Increased By ▲ 5.22 (4.05%)
BOP 8.85 Increased By ▲ 1.00 (12.74%)
CNERGY 4.69 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.64%)
DCL 8.67 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (4.21%)
DFML 39.78 Increased By ▲ 0.84 (2.16%)
DGKC 85.15 Increased By ▲ 3.21 (3.92%)
FCCL 34.90 Increased By ▲ 1.48 (4.43%)
FFBL 75.60 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-0.15%)
FFL 12.74 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.62%)
HUBC 109.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.91 (-0.82%)
HUMNL 14.10 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (0.64%)
KEL 5.40 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (4.85%)
KOSM 7.75 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (1.04%)
MLCF 41.37 Increased By ▲ 1.57 (3.94%)
NBP 69.70 Decreased By ▼ -2.62 (-3.62%)
OGDC 193.62 Increased By ▲ 5.33 (2.83%)
PAEL 26.21 Increased By ▲ 0.58 (2.26%)
PIBTL 7.42 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.68%)
PPL 163.85 Increased By ▲ 11.18 (7.32%)
PRL 26.36 Increased By ▲ 0.97 (3.82%)
PTC 19.47 Increased By ▲ 1.77 (10%)
SEARL 84.40 Increased By ▲ 1.98 (2.4%)
TELE 7.99 Increased By ▲ 0.40 (5.27%)
TOMCL 34.05 Increased By ▲ 1.48 (4.54%)
TPLP 8.72 Increased By ▲ 0.30 (3.56%)
TREET 17.18 Increased By ▲ 0.40 (2.38%)
TRG 61.00 Increased By ▲ 4.96 (8.85%)
UNITY 28.96 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (0.63%)
WTL 1.37 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (1.48%)
BR100 10,786 Increased By 127.6 (1.2%)
BR30 32,266 Increased By 934.6 (2.98%)
KSE100 100,083 Increased By 813.5 (0.82%)
KSE30 31,193 Increased By 160.9 (0.52%)

Iran has stepped up pressure on the opposition, arresting a dissident cleric and warning against using SMS and email messages to organise anti-government protests, reports said on Friday. Mid-ranking cleric Mohammad Taghi Khalaji, who was close to late dissident Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, was arrested at his home in the city of Qom on Tuesday, reformist website Norooznews said.
"The (reason for) his arrest is not known yet but he had on several occasions backed protests against election results" which saw President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad returned for a second term amid allegations of massive fraud, the report said. Iranian authorities have launched a new wave of arrests following bloody protests during Shiite mourning rituals of Ashura on December 27, when eight people were killed.
The detained cleric's son, Mehdi Khalaji, is a senior research fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and two members of the US House of Representatives condemned the arrest. "The regime's intimidation and imprisonment of clerics critical of the current government must cease at once," Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Howard Berman said in a joint statement.
Norooznews did not say whether passports and possession had been seized. Iranian clerics backing the opposition have faced mounting pressure by hard-liners since the death of Montazeri, whose December funeral was attended by thousands of opposition supporters. An outspoken critic of the Islamic regime he helped create, Montazeri joined the opposition by calling for protests and branding Ahmadinejad's government as illegitimate.
The disputed June 12 election triggered mass street protests for a week which were met by heavy crackdown. Since then opposition supporters have taken to the streets on every possible occasion to stage anti-government rallies, especially alongside state-sponsored events. Iran's police chief, meanwhile, has warned opposition supporters against using text and email messages to organise rallies amid reports new demonstrations are being planned, ISNA news agency said Friday.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010

Comments

Comments are closed.