Iranian Cleric Briefly Arrested
A former deputy to Iran’s late leader, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, was briefly arrested during the weekend amid a renewed power struggle in Iran, an Iranian exile group said Tuesday.
The Baghdad-based Moujahedeen Khalq organization said in a statement distributed in Athens that the senior cleric, the Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, was arrested Saturday in the holy city of Qom, 75 miles south of Tehran.
He was released hours later after tension built up in the city over news of his arrest, the exile group said. There was no immediate confirmation of the incident. However, on Monday, Iran’s new spiritual leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called on Iranians to unite.
Khamenei, whose message was addressed to the Majlis, or Parliament, and broadcast on Tehran Radio, said he will not tolerate attacks on the principle of rule of the clergy.
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