AFP: Iranian security forces swept through the homes of opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi and his family, arresting one of his sons and confiscating several documents, his website reported on Tuesday.
TEHRAN (AFP) — Iranian security forces swept through the homes of opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi and his family, arresting one of his sons and confiscating several documents, his website reported on Tuesday.
A top judiciary official meanwhile warned that those who back the opposition movement will not be tolerated and will be considered as “anti-revolutionary.”
Karroubi’s website Sahamnews.org reported three separate security operations against the cleric and his family members on Monday, in which his son Ali was arrested.
In one operation, security forces raided Karroubi’s house in Tehran and “took with them a large number of books and documents.”
“The security forces confined Mrs and Mr Karroubi in separate rooms and then proceeded to search the home and replace all the locks,” the website said, adding that the fate of the cleric and his wife was unknown.
Karroubi, reportedly under house arrest, is facing fresh crackdown from authorities after his supporters and those of fellow opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi staged two demonstrations against the government last week.
The first demonstration on Monday resulted in deadly clashes with security forces in which two people were killed and several, including nine security personnel, were wounded, opposition websites and officials say.
The second attempt on Sunday was crushed by a massive security presence in Tehran which prevented any large scale demonstrations from taking place in the capital.
Karroubi and Mousavi, former pillars of Iran’s Islamic regime, are defiant in their anti-government stance since they lost to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the June 2009 election which they claim was fraudulently conducted.
The recent protests by their supporters have infuriated regime-backers who have advocated complete isolation of the two men, with some, like conservative lawmakers, even demanding they be executed.
But Karroubi and Mousavi, whose rebellion has rocked the Islamic regime, have praised their supporters for Monday’s gathering even as authorities moved in to cut their communication networks.
Sahamnews.org said that in a separate operation security forces arrested Karroubi’s third son, Ali, late on Monday.
“Security forces entered Ali Karroubi’s house last night and arrested him. So far there are no reports on Ali Karroubi’s fate,” it said, adding that his wife too was briefly detained.
Sahamnews.org said that Ali was arrested for a few hours on February 11 last year and “brutally tortured.”
The website also reported that the house of Karroubi’s other son, Hossein, too was raided on Monday but security forces “failed to arrest him as he was not present” there.
A top Iranian judiciary official meanwhile warned on Tuesday that anybody who followed the opposition leaders will now be treated as an “anti-revolutionary”.
“If someone listens to the call of the seditionists today, that person is anti-revolutionary and should be treated as an anti-revolutionary,” Iran’s prosecutor general Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie said.
“Whoever wants to support the sedition leaders will be looked at as anti-revolutionary and will not be tolerated,” Mohseni Ejeie was quoted as saying by Fars news agency.
He said the line of distinction was now clear between followers of the revolution and those against it, but added that those who return to the regime’s fold after apologising should be welcomed back.
