Tehran, June 25, IRNA -- MP's are seeking more signatories to a
petition thus far signed by some 100 deputies to be addressed to
President Mohammad Khatami demanding an end to the house arrest of
now-disgraced Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, once tapped to lead
Iran, a press report said Monday.
The reformist daily Tose'eh quoted an MP from Najafabad, the
birthplace of Montazeri, as saying, "The letter is to be addressed to
the head of the Supreme National Security Council which had ordered
the continuation of his house arrest."
"Ayatollah Montazeri is not after grabbing any post. He only wants
to have his house arrest revoked to attract more clerics," Mostafa
Taheri-Najafabadi told the chamber Sunday.
"The signatories to the petition, including reformists and
conservatives, want to know when the SNSC has passed a ratification
to impose house arrest on Ayatollah Montazeri," he said.
Montazeri, 79, was once named to succeed the late founder of the
Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini. He was ousted as Imam Khomeini's
deputy.
Najafabadi confirmed that the son-in-law and two other associates
of Montazeri were arrested Friday on charges of "acting against
national security."
He said cleric Hadi Hashemi, husband of one of Montazeri's
daughters, Aliasghar Kimiaie and Mohammad-Hassan Movahedi-Savodji, had
been arrested on the orders of the Special Court for Clergy.
Press reports said the detainees may have been in cahoots with
Hadi's brother, Mehdi, a pro-Montazeri activist who was executed in
1986 after being sentenced to death by SCC for allegedly conspiring
against the Islamic regime.
Najafabadi complained that one of Montazeri's sons, Saeed, jailed
for six months, has been denied access to lawyer and family visit.
Saeed has been suspected of distributing an embarrassing report on the
1998 serial murders of intellectuals and political dissidents.
... Payvand News - 6/25/01 ... --
