Iranian opposition Web sites reported Monday the arrest of several
prominent reformists, including aides to opposition leaders and a former
foreign minister, a day after clashes killed at least eight, the deadliest day
of protests since the summer.
According to the Web site of former presidential candidate Mir Hossein
Mousavi's "green movement," or RaheSabz, authorities early Monday
arrested Ebrahim Yazdi, Iran's one-time foreign minister. He has led a
tolerated reformist group in Iran. The site also reported the morning round-up
of top Mousavi aides, including his chief of staff, a top advisor, his
presidential campaign chief and the head of Mousavi's Web site.
Security forces also stormed a foundation run by reformist former President
Mohammad Khatami and arrested two people, a foundation official told the
Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because of fears of police
reprisal.
The arrests ratchet up pressure on the opposition after the regime of Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unleashed a
heavy-handed crackdown on protesters Sunday. Opposition supporters said late
Sunday they documented at least eight deaths in Tehran alone in the day's
clashes. On Monday, Iranian state media confirmed eight deaths nation-wide, but
said the fatalities weren't caused by Iranian security services.
Opposition sites reported Sunday that police opened fire at one point into a
crowd of protesters, killing at least four. Hospitals reported dozens of
injuries.
One of the protesters slain on Sunday was the nephew of Mousavi, Iran's top
opposition leader, according to Mousavi's official Web site.
On Monday, two opposition Web sites, citing the brother of the deceased Seyed
Ali Mousavi, reported the nephew's body was missing. Reza Mousavi, Ali
Mousavi's brother, said the body had been taken from the hospital where it was
brought Sunday, according to the Web site Parleman News.
On Monday, Press TV, the state-run, English-language news outlet, said the
eight officially confirmed deaths were under investigation and said dozens of
security forces, including Tehran's police chief, were injured in the clashes. Press
TV quoted an unnamed official in the report.
The arrests follow a stinging denunciation of Sunday's violence by another top
opposition leader, Mahdi Karroubi, early Monday. Karroubi, along with Mousavi,
ran unsuccessfully against Ahmadinejad in June elections, which opposition
supporters allege was rigged. The government has said the vote was fair.
In a posting on RaheSabz, the cleric, who has lashed out at the regime in
increasingly harsh language, said even the former, ousted government of the
Shah respected the holy day of Ashura, a culmination of a 10-day Shiite
commemoration. The violence Sunday broke Shiite Muslim strictures against
violence on the day.
"What has really happened? They (the ruling system) spilled the blood of people
on the day of Ashura," according to a translation of the statement by the
AP.