Iran Jails Student Leader, Seeks to Oust 2 Officials

The head of Iran’s largest reformist student group was jailed Sunday in a widening crackdown by hard-liners, who reportedly are also seeking to remove two top pro-reform Cabinet ministers.

Ali Afshari, head of the Office to Foster Islamic Unity, was sent into detention after several hours of questioning by the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, officials of the student group said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It was not clear if Afshari was charged with any crime. Judicial officials were not immediately available for comment.

Conservatives in the Islamic clerical regime have over the last two weeks closed 16 newspapers, arrested two journalists and questioned numerous reform activists in a backlash to preserve their power against the increasingly strong pro-democracy movement.

Newspapers reported Sunday that the outgoing hard-line parliament summoned Islamic Culture & Guidance Minister Ataollah Mohajerani and Interior Minister Abdul Vahed Musavi-Lari, both leading supporters of reform, to face impeachment proceedings.

Afshari and two newspaper editors--all staunch allies of President Mohammad Khatami--were questioned by the court about their presence at a conference in Berlin last month at which slogans criticizing Iran’s religious government were chanted.

The editors--Ezzatollah Sahabi of Iran-e Farda magazine and Hamid-Reza Jalaipour of the Asr-e Azadegan daily--were freed after their interrogation. Both of their publications have been banned.

After his release, Jalaipour said the court told him that his participation at the Berlin conference “was an act against Iran’s security and that I had propagated against the Islamic Republic.”

Jalaipour said the men had tried to defend the ongoing reforms at the conference but were attacked by anti-government Iranians in exile.

“It’s a strange situation. Abroad, we are attacked by anti-revolutionaries as agents of the Islamic establishment in Iran, and at home they attack us as agents of the enemies,” Jalaipour said.

On Saturday, the same court arrested two female reformists for attending the Berlin conference. A third woman, activist Jamileh Kadivar, who is Mohajerani’s wife, has been asked to appear in court today for questioning, Jalaipour said.