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Iran says several foreigners arrested in protests

05 January 2010 [11:22] - TODAY.AZ
Iran said on Monday that several foreigners conducting "psychological warfare" against the clerical system were arrested in last month's bloody clashes between opposition supporters and security forces.

In the bloodiest unrest since the aftermath of a disputed June presidential poll, eight people were killed on December 27 and over 40 reformist figures, including four advisers to opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi, have been arrested since then.

"Several foreigners are among those who were arrested on the day of Ashura ... they were leading a psychological war against the system ... They entered Iran two days before Ashura," Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi told state television, without giving the foreigners' nationality.

Iranian authorities have repeatedly accused opposition leaders of links to "foreign enemies," warning that they will not tolerate any more anti-government protests after the turmoil that broke out during the Shi'ite ritual of Ashura.

The intelligence minister also said the case of the arrested foreigners would be handed over to the judiciary by Wednesday.

Neither the Iranian government nor the opposition and its supporters have shown much appetite for compromise in the six months since the disputed election and confrontation has escalated with a flood of accusations and counter-charges.

A representative of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said opposition leaders were 'mohareb' (enemies of God), which makes them fit for execution under Islamic law.

/Reuters/
URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/58886.html

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